You're but a shadow of who you used to be
by Unholy Prophet0060
Summary: The war has changed. Salem has been defeated. But at a great cost. The world has become ravaged by war and it's inhabitants struggle to survive. The White fang have found a means of securing victory by travelling back to the past. Adam will stop at nothing until he kills the young rose. Lucky For Ruby, She was sent a guardian of her own. By her future self, no less.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: hello fellow readers and authors! this is my crack at writing a RWBY Fic with Jaune as the main protagonist. This story has inspiration from Metal Gear Rising: Reverence and terminator along with other elements from other movies and stories. This is my own personal experiment on how well I can stay motivated to a Fic before I begin to loose the motivation to continue writing it.**_

 _ **I'm just testing the waters with this story at the moment, so don't expect anything amazing. I am also well aware of the things in this Fic have been used in other stories but this my own take on it. Anyway, I hope that you all don't find this a complete waste of your time. Review your opinions (both polite and harsh) if you wish. I'll welcome any advice and constructive criticism.**_

 _ **I don't own anything. Everything here belongs to it's respectful owners.**_

* * *

 _ **Introduction:**_

Night. The time when the sun sleeps and the shattered moon glows. It's broken majestic beauty shone dimly over the world of Remnant. A world where Monsters and heroes are born. Such as the fairy tale goes, as the historians would say.

This world, as beautiful as it was, shared a dark history of war and blood. For hundreds of years the Humans and Faunus kind alike have raged war on each other, or against the creatures known as Grimm. Dark soulless beings that prowl on the living in endless hordes. feasting on fear and negative emotions.

As the generations passed by, there was the largest war recorded in this planets history. The largest war between the Humans and Faunus. Many died on both sides before the war came to an end. Through this event, there was peace. A truce implanted into the blood soaked soil between the two races that fought each other for so long.

It seemed that the world of Remnant had finally started to unite together its other fragments. However, the time of peace did not last. Over 80 years later, Discrimination between races had flared up into sparks. Once again, Humans and Faunus kind were fighting among each other, whist ignoring the true danger to the world.

The creatures of Grimm had all been drawn to the anger and hate. Over the years the Numbers in Grimm had risen dangerously. The Huntsmen, people dedicated to protecting the kingdoms and hunting Grimm were the world only hope at stopping another war from birthing.

This was not to be, however. An entity identified as _Salem,_ Had been creating Grimm for thousands of years to eradicate all life on Remnant. Though her main purpose is unknown, She had used her main weapon, A woman named Cinder Fall to cause a collapse in the worlds defenses.

The Newly formed terrorist faction of faunus revolutionists called the White Fang, allied themselves with the woman. Together they dropped The defenses of the city called Vale. The Grimm broke through the protective walls and invaded, killing thousands of men, woman and children. This was the first city to fall. The Sparks had then became a full fledged inferno of war between the Grimm, The White Fang, and Humanity.

For years now, The number of Huntsmen had been severely depleted as time went on. With whole countries in ruin and cities overrun by Grimm, the war had torn the world apart and divided the races once again.

It would come to show that Humanity and the Faunus that didn't turn over to the White Fang, had prevailed through out all of this. But at a cost. After the defeat of Salem, Humanity had been reduced to few thousand survivors and even fewer Huntsmen. The White Fang had only minor hundreds left. They have since long forgotten their main purpose to fight, only fighting because that's all they knew.

Ruby Rose Had been leading what was left of the Human resistance for two years now. Fighting against The White Fang that was still being lead by Adam Taurus. The one who had started the Faunus rebellion from nothing. It seemed that the war was soon going to end. one way or the other. on this night on a shattered moon, this war would end.

* * *

The wind whistled wildly across the barren landscape. Rain dropping from the sky as if the Shattered moon was crying. Black clouds darkened the sky as smog made the night unnaturally darker. Thunder could be heard in the distance as lightening flashed briefly through the clouds. Another flash of light lit up the area, revealing a dark figure crouched over on a hill hunched over beside a pile of large rocks. This figure wore a black leather trench coat that reached to the bottom of the figures knees. The physique of this individual showed that he was a male. The trench coat had elbow length sleeves, revealing his black armored synthetic arms. Clawed servos (hands) gripped a set of night-vision binoculars, examining the terrain below him as he adjusted the sights.

The brightest feature that could be seen on this dark shaded person was the long strands of blond hair sprouting from his head, Being blown in the wind. Two Colbert blue eyes overlooked the area with next to no emotion as he searched for his target. His bottom metallic jaw was set in a firm line as he did this. The individual continued to do this when his COMM link went off.

"Jaune, Do you read?" A feminine voice asked over the Comm link. The signal was slightly patchy due to the storm overhead. Jaune wasted no time to reply. "This is Dark Knight, I read you Rose." Spoke Jaune with cold response. His focus on the location of his target unwavering. The voice on the other end of the comm Huffed in response. "Jaune, you've known me for years. You can at least call me by my first name."

The cyborg fell silent for a brief moment. He opened his mouth to retort but held it back. "...Apologies, Ruby." He said flatly. Even though Jaune couldn't see her, he could almost picture Ruby rolling her eyes.

Both of them quickly got down to business in the blink of an eye. "What are we up against Jaune?" The Former leader of team RWBY Requested as she awaited Jaunes response.

Jaune enhanced the zoom function on the binoculars onto a large heavily defended complex based in the distance in what was a desert of Valco. He switched the night vision to regular as he examined the area from afar.

He easily spotted the emblem of a white wolf head with three claw marks swiped across it, painted on a front wall of the main building. ' _found it._ ' Thought the Dark Knight before confirming Ruby's suspicions.

"Affirmative Ruby. This is where the Fang is stationed. The Base is heavily protected. I can't seem to find any flaws in their defenses. They appear to have no air-force. They do however, have numerous artillery shelters stationed behind the walls. I'd assume that they're meant to deal with ground force unites and vehicles." Jaune reported while rubbing some of the water out of his eye from the rain.

Ruby took in the information and contemplated on what was need to be done. A short moment passed until she came up with a plan. "Alright. I'll gather the men. We attack in two hours. We'll use the bullheads to drop in our best units to take care of the artillery. Once that's taken care of we'll send in the troops along with the armored vehicles to start the initial assault."

Jaune nodded. Agreeing with her plan of attack. "Understood." Ruby then spoke up. "Jaune. I'm sending a Bullhead to pick you up. I'll send you the location where it'll pick you up from." Ruby informed the Cyborg.

"Copy that." He cut the comm link and moved to stand up from his position and placed the binoculars into one the coats pockets. He Swiftly made his way to the co-ordinance that was sent him. He activated his face plate to close over his eyes and mouth, activating the visor and his HUD (heads up display). A navigation point (nav point) lite up in the distance on his visor and giving him the location of his destination.

The Dark Night walked over the wet sand of the old desert. His soaked trench coat blew in the wind as he made his way to the Bullhead.

* * *

The Bullhead flew through the air at a low altitude because of the the storm overhead. The airship rocked every now and then due to the turbulence, thus causing a bumpy ride for the pilot and the single passenger. Jaune sat alone With his servos placed on his prosthetic knees while he looked at the floor, deep in thought. He was no longer bothered from being in airships anymore. With the loss of his stomach functions he had no need to eat or drink. The cyborg sighed. He glanced at his arms. He longed to feel the skin that was no longer there.

Both of them completely mechanical. When he had lost Crocea Mors during the battle with Cinder Fall, he had implanted weapons of his own in both of his arms.

His left arm was able to produce a holographic projected shield. Or Hard-Light Shield for short. For his right arm, He had build in conduit that had the ability to form sword made up of pure plasma energy ( _ **A/N: yes, the energy sword from halo.**_ ). He was able to activate and deactivate both of them at will. Should the situation call for it, He had the ability to Mecha-shift both of his arms into dust projected mini-guns. He couldn't always rely on them due to him having a limit of ammunition, But he was thankful for the upgrade Coco had gave him after he had lost his arms.

He had also acquired two HF (high frequency) daggers that Ruby had made for him for his 20th birthday. He had both strapped onto his thighs. Ready to be drawn at a moments notice.

Jaune then looked at the rest of his mechanical armored body. over 75 percent of it was machine. No longer flesh and blood. He raised a servo and touched his metallic jaw. Feeling the metal that connected up to his skull. unknowingly, a single tear slid from his eye down his cheek and dropped onto the floor. Jaune cursed himself for expressing weakness. He ran a servo through his blond locks and closed his eyes tightly. Trying to avoid remembering the day he came so close to death's door. Only wake up and express life as a thing then a person. Others treated him as a weapon more then anything else after that. Only using him for their dirty work. Ruby being the only other huntsmen left, was the only person that still treated him as a human being instead of a piece of equipment.

 _'And for that, I am grateful.'_ Thought Jaune as he gripped his servo into a fist. He sighed and looked out of the window and saw that they were coming up on their destination. The pilot poked his head over the seat and shouted over the noise of the engines to the lone Cyborg.

"We're landing in Eta 30 seconds. Brace yourself!" He warned as the ship began to descend to the ground. The Arc waved a servo in acknowledgment. He stood up from his seat and opened the side hatch, getting ready to get off the airship once it landed.

With only 12 feet left in height, the cyborg jumped off. He landed with a heavy thud and landed in crouching position. Jaune slowly stood up and moved out of the way so that the airship could land. Current men and woman moved around gathering weapons and supplies for the assault on the White Fang stronghold.

The Dark Night gazed over too the groups of armored vehicles and bullheads being attended by mechanics, engineers and pilots that were doing last minute check ups on the machinery before using them in the attack. The Cyborg made his way past the make shift camps for the troops. He noticed that they avoided looking at him as he pasted by. Obviously feeling uneasy with his presence. they moved out of his way as he closed in on the Command Center where Ruby was most likely already setting up the bases of attack. He walked up o the largest tent that was pitched in the middle of the camp. As He moved up to the entrance of the command center, Two soldiers posted outside the entrance noticed the approaching cyborg and nodded in greeting. Both stepped to the side and opened the tent flaps to allow him entry.

The half mechanical being tilted his head forward in acknowledgment as he entered into the tent. He could already see multiple figures standing around a holographic war table with a map of the whole terrain. at the end of the table, stood Ruby Rose. Fully decked out in dark black and red leather armor hugging her figure comfortably. She still had her trade mark Red hood. Over the years she had it though, it had worn out and ripped over the coarse of time. She now wore it as a mini cape that hung over her left shoulder. Jaune had already noticed that she had already equipped herself for the oncoming fight. Crescent Rose Mark V Was folded in it's compact form attached to the Woman's back. If anyone would say the amount of modifications that were put into that thing were overkill, Jaune would have had to agree wholeheartedly with them. Ruby had gone crazy with upgrading her sniper scythe since when she first made her weapon shortly before going to attend Beacon academy. So far, he had counted over six different forms that the damn thing was able to Mecha-shift into. The two obvious ones were it's regular Scythe and sniper form. It was now able to change into a double edged great-sword, similar to her deceased uncle Qrow. It also had the ability to change into an explosive, high impact, incendiary round shot gun that could fire out 12 shells in 3.2 seconds. Less, if Ruby used her semblance. It was also able to shift into a bow-staff with bladed ends. The last form had the ability to Split into two mini scythe blades that allow her to moved quicker in combat.

Jaune saw the silver eyed warrior converse with the other officers in the room about the attack. Jaune stood to the side with his servos placed behind his back while he observed them in silence.

"we should split off half of our men to the southern left flank. If we send troops ahead of us on foot we can catch them by surprise before they can even register whats going on." A middle aged captain suggested as he pointed out his explanation on the holographic image of the landscape.

A younger L.T shook his head at the aged man. He stepped forward and changed the image of the landscape to the far side of the White Fang stronghold. "No. It wouldn't work. From the intel Huntsmen Arc has gathered from his recon operation, that would be suicide for those we would send out." He then enhanced the image.

"The Fang have laid out land mines that have the tonnage to punch a hole through a tank. Even if some of us got past all that, we'd be slaughtered by the time we would've gotten close to one of the walls." Warned the L.T as he reset the image back to viewing the whole landscape once more. An experienced L.T Commander Agreed with this.

"That's correct. Well, would it be wise to use air units for this assault? We only have a handful remaining." He asked while looking at the silver eyed leader.

Ruby leaned forward and placed both her hand on the table and hung her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if to reassure herself. There was a long silence in the room everyone looking at her for an answer. It was then Ruby responded.

"Yes. the Fang don't have any artillery to go against air units. Only Ground-troops and armored vehicles." She then moved a set of holo Bullheads over the image of the Base. "We'll drop in The Deadkiller squads to deal with the artillery shelters." Ruby then displayed a group of tanks stationed further back from the other vehicles and troops. " Once the tanks can get in rage, we'll use them to blow down the main gate to allow the transports to deliver the men to begin the attack."

She pointed back to the groups of bull heads above the image of the base. "We'll use the airships for air support and evacuation for the wounded." She then closed the screen of the war table and sighed while facing the others in front of her. In the corner of her eye, she could see Jaune Standing in the background.

"That's out plan. Once we have all our forces within the defenses of the base we change things up from there. Understood?" She spoke with determination and conviction. Everyone nodded their approval and saluted. Ruby dipped her head. "Good. Get everyone ready. We attack in half an hour. This war, ends tonight. This is The White Fangs last line of defense. Adam Taurus will soon face justice." Declared the young Rose. Though to some her voice may have sounded cute and innocent, to those that have fought and bleed in a time of war, her words were justified in honor and the will to prevail against the odds.

One by one, each member exited the command center. Ruby sighed softly. She glanced at Jaune who stood at the doorway. Unmoving. Only looking at her with a stonewall expression. ' _he's never been the same after that day. Or was it the loss of Pyrrha that really started his fall from grace?'_ Thought the young sadly woman.

"Can we do it Jaune? Can we really win this? We don't have the numbers like we used too. And...i...i.." Ruby stammered as She began to deflate and doubt herself.

After losing so much, so many people that she cared about, Could she really do this? Finish what had started all of this? Her thoughts were interrupted when Jaune spoke.

"You've gotten everyone here this far. To falter now would lead them to destruction. They depend on you to push on through the darkness. So long as they Have you to lead them, they wont ever fail. You'll win this. I know it." Said Jaune with honesty. He then turned on his heel to walk out of the tent when he felt ruby grab his shoulder-plate. ' _she must of used her semblance to get to the other side of the room so fast._ ' thought the cyborg.

He turned slowly to see a concerned Ruby as she released her hold of his shoulder-plate. "Jaune. Are you going to be okay with this? With, Adam?"

She asked as she faced him eye to eye. The Dark Knight felt a serge of rage shoot up his spine at the mention of him. He quickly concealed the emotion before it surfaced and retained his pokerface. "If you are referring to the day i lost the majority of my limbs and organs, then yes, i am at optimal efficiency for the battle."

Ruby sighed sadly. "Jaune, I'm sorry for what happened to your body. I tried. Got i tried so Hard to help. I'm so sorry for what happened to Pyrr-"

"Don,t. Say. **THAT.** Name." Hissed Jaune, anger bubbling beneath the surface. Blue eyes locking with silver. Ruby's eyes widened as she tried to make an apology. Jaune raised a servo to wave her off. "Enough." Was all he said.

Ruby felt tears leaking out of her eyes as she moved forward and pressed her forehead against his metal chest. instead of feeling a warm heartbeat, all she felt was cold steel plating. "What happened to you Jaune? I Miss you." She whispered. Jaune Faced her with a blank expression with traces of resentment. "Adam took my body. **YOU** Took my humanity." And with that, Jaune stormed out of the tent, leaving a shocked Rose with a pained look on hr face. Her Only friend she had left, blamed her for what he had become. A Machine. All she wanted to do was keep him alive. After all, He was all she had left.

* * *

 _ **FUCK! that was a struggle. My god i was up late writing this! 4:30 in the damn morning. I'm sorry if there is any spelling or grammar issues but i honestly don't care right now. i'm too tired. This is going to be split into two parts for chapter one. Chapter two is where Jaune goes back into the past so watch over a younger Ruby. anyway, like i said before, i hope that this was not a waste of your time. Goodbye. For now at least.**_


	2. Chapter 1 part 2

_**Greetings everybody. Welcome to part 2 of chapter 1. I have to say that this has started off rather promising so far. I don't really have much to say apart from thanking all of you who have enjoyed what i am writing. Thank you guys. Your all the best! Read on people. Hope you enjoy the progress of the story.**_

* * *

 _ **Moments from the attack on the white Fang**_

It was almost time. The assault being mere minutes from beginning. The last battle of the 2nd Human/Faunus war, was only moments from being initiated. The Rain from the thunderstorm was now falling from the sky in rivers. The wind now gusting wildly like an untamed animal thrashing for freedom of it's cage. Lighting Flashed about, dangerously close to the attacking Bullhead squadrons.

Inside one such Bullhead, Jaune Arc sat Along with eight other soldiers. All ready for the fight ahead. The cyborg was silent while Alpha squad's Commander debriefed the men of their mission. Jaune payed him no mind however. He had already been notified from Ruby via Comm link of the primary directive. he continued to gaze out of the hatch window as they flew into enemy territory Along with the other Bullheads. Jaune counted over 23 airships in total. Each housing eight men per ship. That made up 23 Deadkiller squadrons with a max population of 184 men. All hand picked by General Iornwood before he passed away a year ago. Killed by a Goliath while exacuating his troops from an overrun outpost in the badlands after the fall of vacuo.

The Deadkillers were a mix of Black ops soldiers that were trained by Huntsmen. The Deadkiller Program was started eight years ago during the hunt for Cinder Fall. When the Program began, There was over 250 units in total before The false Fall maiden's demise. After the fight however, the number had dropped to 200. During the continued war against the Grimm and Salem, The number decreased to the remaining 184. Everyone of them were seasoned men and woman, veterans of war.

And here they are now, ready to finish the fight. Not just for peace, but for the lost. For their bothers and sisters that had died in hope for a better future. This is why Ruby had assigned Every Deadkiller on the front lines. Because They knew the risks but would do what was necessary in order to achieve victory. Jaune Held high respect for the soldiers. He admired their passion and commitment to the cause. Willing to sacrifice everything they had in order to achieve their goal.

Jaune himself had personally trained and drilled many of these soldiers back when they were initiates In the Program. Through this experience that many shared while being trained by the Arc, many refer him as Commander. Though the Cyborg has no official rank in the chain of command (At least, not anymore.), The majority of Deadkillers continue to refer to him as that. Jaune Personally hated the title. It reminded him of his past life during the beginning of the war when he was sending troops into battle at a young age. But over the years he had just simply accepted that the nickname was not going away anytime soon.

The Dark Knight went deep in thought. Contemplating how the assault would play out. He was concerned with how many would die today. He was no idiot. He knew that the White Fang didn't have any specific anti-air artillery. He'd seen the enemies defenses himself personally. The terrorists would most likely still fire on the incoming airships with their current weaponry. No way around that. He was 100 percent certain that they would at least lose one or two Bullheads before they can even deploy the Squadrons on the ground. Jaune tensed up and gripped both his servos into fists tightly. A constant frown pasted on his facial features. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself by en-hailing and exhaling through his nose. He did this for about 30 seconds before he heard someone hyperventilating. He slowly opened both his eyes and turned his head to the right and saw a young woman, Perhaps in her mid to late teens, Shaking with fear. Obviously frightened with the inevitable battle that was to come.

She was gripping her assault rifle tightly. If she wasn't wearing gloves The Dark Knight could of sworn that her knuckles would've been pure white. Though Jaune had become more of a stonewall nowadays, He wasn't heartless. (Well, he is, physically speaking, but that's not the point.) Jaune lifted a servo and gently placed it upon the girls shoulder. She jumped slightly in fright and her eyes went wide as she struggled to regain her composer. The Cyborg faced her with a knowing look before he spoke. "You alright?"

The girl hesitated a little before replying. She was well aware of who was beside her. One of the only two remaining Huntsmen alive. If the stories of what she was told back when she was just a kid were true, then HE had been there at the start of the war, and where it all began. That would mean that HE was as skilled as Humanity's Leader, Ruby Rose. That and HE was the one who fought Salem, Cinder Fall and Adam Taurus On multiple battles and LIVED. And also there was the fact that HE had Personally trained a good majority of the Deadkillers! This guy was like a walking Legend! HE was Someone that she dreamed to be. HE was the reason why she trained so hard to become a Deadkiller. And the fact that HE was sitting right next to her was almost enough for young girl to pass out in awe. She didn't even register the Huntsmen being in the Bullhead. He hadn't even said a word during the mission debriefing. She then realized that she still hadn't replied back to the Dark Knight who was looking at her with not even the slightest bit of emotion on his face.

"i...i...Yes...no, um. Yes?" The girl stuttered out. The stress of going out on the front lines for this mission had her scared. also with the fact that her idol was literary right beside her. In the same ship no less. She Started muttering things. this caused Jaunes eyes to narrow at her. He gripped she shoulder a little tighter to get her attention. She went silent and looked at him with wide eyes once again. ' _At least i got her to focus.'_ Though the Mechanical being. "Relax." Was all he said. He finally released his hold on her shoulder when she nodded in response to his order. The girl sighed, trying to calm herself. "Sorry, Commander. Just a little jumpy. I'll be alright." The girl said while putting on a fake smile. The Arc could see right through her facade. His eyes narrowed further. "Lying is not a wise choice to go with in such a delicate situation. I would insist that you change your response. I can tell that your afraid." The post human lectured while retaining his usual blank expression and calm voice.

You would expect the other soldiers to be interested in the what was going on between the Deadkiller recruit and huntsmen. Surprisingly they were all to preoccupied with their own thoughts to care. Jaune waited patently for her to confess what was going on in her head.

"...Yes. I'm scared, sir. I only joined the Deadkillers a few months ago. I'm the only recruit that they accepted because I showed promise." Told the girl truthfully. She slumped her shoulders. Jaune nodded to himself. finding the answer acceptable. He leaned forward slightly. "Whats your name?" He asked. The girl didn't look at him, instead she looked at the ground, ashamed of admitting that she was scared. She was suppose to be a Deadkiller. Not a coward. "Helena." She told him softly.

The Cyborg Didn't say anything at first. He gazed out to the window and saw the fleet of Bullheads closing in on their target. It wouldn't be long until the Fang would start to open fire. He looked back at Helena. "You're not a coward." He said simply to the girl. Helena's head shot up. She turned to look at the Huntsmen next to her. "What?" She said dumbfounded.

"You're not a Coward." Jaune repeated himself. When he saw the girls eyes brighten a little, He continued to explain what he meant. "Being scared is normal. Everyone gets it. Fear is what can keep you alive. There is a difference between a coward and being scared. A coward runs from a fight in order to save himself instead of protecting the weak. Being scared means that you are aware of the danger your in and what the situation could become, or being in the unknown. Either way, you are here now are you not? A Deadkiller, no less. You should have nothing to be ashamed of, Girl." Jaune told her, nothing but honest words being spoken.

Helena was at a loss for words. She found it difficult to argue with his points he made. All she could do nod and thank him for his belief in her. " Thank you, Commander." She phrased. Jaune only tipped his head. "I'm only stating facts. Nothing more."

His head snapped to the side when he Heard the heavy gunfire outside of the Bullhead. A red light started flashing in the cot-pit. "We're taking enemy Fire! Get ready to Drop! taking evasive maneuvers!" Shouted the pilot As He did his best to maneuver the oncoming attacks. Jaune quickly got up and speed over to the hatch and ripped it open. He Looked out and saw multiple explosions going off in the air. Some dangerously close to hitting the airships. The Deadkillers quickly prepared themselves as the squads current leader barked out orders to his men. "Once We touch down, We're to meet up with Squads sigma and Delta. We are in charge of taking out The artillery shelters on the north wall! Shelters 1, 3, and 7, are our targets! Once that's taken care of, we'll meet up in the main vehicle bay to destroy any means of escape for the white fang bastards! We'll then hold position until Commander Rose comes in with the reinforcements to engage the main complex!" The leading Deadkiller shouted over the gunfire and explosions. Everyone nodded as they remained strapped their seats, least they be thrown out of the Bullhead.

Jaune Held onto the support bar tightly as he gazed out at the rest of the airships. He was growing increasingly more and more concerned with the amount of punishment the Bullheads were taking. his fears would come true when One of the bullheads slightly ahead of them took too much gunfire in the left thruster, causing The ship to spin out of control and crash directly into another below it. Killing everyone inside both ships at once. Jaune could hear the screams on the comm lines. He winched and had to look away. He heard the fiery explosion of both airships when they hit the ground. Not even 10 seconds later, A third Bullhead was on a collision course, It's pilots shot dead in the cot-pit after taking too much fire. The Bullhead made a nose dive and smashed to the desert floor. Jaune had no choice but to radio Ruby. "Ruby, Once the Deadkillers are deployed, Evacuate the Bullheads until we clear the north and and east wall. We're taking multiple losses."

Jaune frantically yelled into the Comm link. Ruby responded instantly to his request. "Jaune, if I do that, then you'll have no air support for you an the Deadkillers, it'll be a death trap."

Jaune, nowadays rarely displayed much emotion, but now he was seething at the situation he was in. "Yes, I know. But right now the Bullheads are more valuable. we'll manage. As Soon as we land pull them out. Dark Knight out." Finished Jaune As he readied himself for an even tougher fight then he had anticipated.

"Alright, Jaune. Understood. Rose out." Ruby radioed before she cut the link between her and Jaune.

Jaune cursed. He did not expect this. He clenched his metallic jaw in frustration. He was snapped out of it when he heard shouting coming from the cot-pit. "Fuck! Incoming fire on our left!" Screamed a pilot in panic. Jaune didn't have time to react when the open side of the Bullhead was struck By a high impact sniper bullet that caused the side thruster to smoke cut out. the ship began to lose control as it plummeted to the ground. The airship was spinning wildly and Jaune was thrown out of the open hatch. he yelled out and Slammed his clawed servo into the metal plating of the floor. barely holding on as his body hung out of the side. "Shit!" He swore to himself.

He looked below him and noticed that the airship had made it past the walls of the Stronghold. They were going to crash into the base. Jaune was loosing his grip fast. He struggled to keep his hold, but to no avail. With no other option left, he activated his faceplate to close over his face. He activated his enhanced vision and quickly scanned the perimeter before he dropped. He looked at the railing on one of the walls and spotted something that he made his eyes go wide. Rage soon filled his being at what he saw, as brief as it was. He zoomed in and saw a Bull Grimm masked faunus, wielding A red blade and its sheath in it's modified sniper form. Adam Taurus stood on one of the walls and aimed at Jaunes Bullhead once again and fired. This time hitting the second thruster causing the ship to completely lose it's control. Jaune Lost his grip as he fell to the ground below, watching as Alpha Squads Bullhead crash close to the north wall. Spinning out of control himself, Jaune was unable to slow his decent to the ground. He braced himself and channeled as much Aura as he could to lighten the damage he was most likely going to take once he made impact.

The Cyborg smashed through the roof of one of the smaller buildings and collided with a metal scaffolding as is collapsed on top of him along with pieces of the ceiling.

* * *

Jaunes faded in and out of consciousness As he struggled to open his eyes. He fought to keep them open. Trying to stop himself from passing out. Once he was able to stop his vision from blurring, He tried to access the current situation.

he checked his HUD for any damages on his body that he might of sustained during his fall. his 'Heads Up Display' was going haywire due to the fall he'd taken. He deactivated it to reboot it'self and use it later on. He retracted his Face-plate to the sides of his head. He grunted as he began to crawl out of the debris and continued to throw pieces of scrap metal off of him.

He eventuality pulled himself out and stood up. His trench coat was a little ripped here and there but it didn't bother the Knight. He stumbled a little and winched When he saw a shard of metal sticking out of his lower stomach. Jaune gripped the shard and gritted his teeth. He swiftly yanked the shard out and grunted in pain. silver synthetic blood leaked out in thin rivers, Jaune would have to rely on his Aura to repair the damage later on. Right now He had to move off and locate and regroup with the rest of the deadkillers.

Jaune was seething. Adam was the one who had shot down the majority of the Bullheads. It was because of him, so many more lives were lost. The ex-revolutionist turned terrorist was already responsible for so many lives lost. Jaune made a promise to hunt him down. What ever means necessary for not just his own personal vengeance, but for what he did to Yang. And Blake. And also taking part in Pyrrha's Death.

Jaune then moved with a reforged purpose. He ran and jumped and evaded the derbies scattered over the ruined building. He ran outside and Dived to the left behind cover. A group of white Fang soldiers fired on his position after they spotted him. All of them equipped with sub-machine guns. The dark Knight rolled over the barricade he used for cover and sprinted to the group of masked Faunus. He Increased his speed with his cybernetic limbs and channeled his Aura into his legs to enhance his movements.

In the span of a few seconds he was already nearing the speed that only Ruby herself could surpass. Jaune moved like a black shadow, closing the distance between himself and his enemy in the blink of an eye. The now panicked Faunus fired and sprayed in all directions, doing their best to keep track of the fading shadow.

Jaune, who was now only feet away from the closest Faunus, would show them no mercy. The Black Cyborg threw out his clawed servo and drove it into the chest of the unfortunate faunus in front of him. His comrades didn't even have time to register what happened. Jaune, with his hand still embedded in his enemy's chest, Mecha-shifted the servo into it's mini-gun form and fired. The bullets ripped through the Now dead faunus and hit three others behind him. their bodies rippled with bullets as they hit the ground. Jaune quickly pulled his arm gun out of the meat shield and shook the gore off of his arm before he shifted it back into his servo. He leaned his head back as he narrowly missed a sword strike from another soldier trying to flank him.

The soldier struck again by swinging at his chest. Jaune ducked under the attack and kicked his legs out from under him. The downed soldier hit the ground with a thud and struggled to get up. Jaune didn't hesitate and dropped an ax kick on top of his head. The weight of the cybernetic limb crushing his skull.

The cyborg sprinted forward and charged at an on coming squad that moved towards him in order to cut him off from moving to the other Deadkillers. He leaped up and drove his knee into the first soldier of the group and dive rolled over his downed body. He parried a sword strike from an attacker on his right while maneuvered his way out of a hailstorm of bullets from the third faunus behind him. Jaune jumped up and filled in the air. While doing this, he drew both of his HF daggers and spun himself around like a whirlwind made of flesh and metal. He decapitated the other sword wielding Fang member in less then a few motions. Before the now dead Fang member's head could even hit he ground, Jaune released his grip on both of his blades. The momentum of Jaune's spinning caused them travel through the air and sink into the remaining attackers chest. The remaining soldier didn't even have a chance to react to the incoming blades. he cried out in agony before his body went limp and sunk to the ground dead.

The Dark Knight landed in a crouch position. He calmly walked over to the corpse a ways from him and retrieved his daggers and slid booth of them back into their sheaths. He nodded at his handy work as he turned to run off in the direction of the downed Bullhead. He spotted the wreck in the distance ahead. He sprinted across the battlefield and dodged attacks from enemies. After minutes of fighting, He had made his way to the wreck of the airship. The ruined base was in flames. Jaune tilted his head and studied the remains of the Bullhead. No one had got out. Jaune frowned. The possibility of them surviving was slim. but the Dark Knight Didn't take any chances. He hurried over and dug his servos into the ruined steel. He was ripping chunks out of the side of the ship as he looked for any of the members of Alpha Squad. He continued to do this and eventually found an opening. He took it and used his enhanced strength to rip the whole side of the ship open.

He peered inside and he released a sigh of relief. All members of Alpha were alive. Some of them however were injured. Jaune moved inside the wreck and began dragging out the Deadkillers from the ship one at a time. The few ones that were awake thanked him while he went back to get the remaining soldiers. Jaune finally came across an unconscious Helena. He shook his head at what he discovered. Her leg had been broken in two places. He sighed sadly as he carefully gathered the girl in his arms and carried her out and placed her softly on the ground beside the other wounded Deadkillers.

He stood up after placing the injured girl down and walked over to the leading member of Alpha squad. "We need to move. If we don't eliminate the artillery shelters then this fight is already lost." Jaune told the Aged Deadkiller in front of him. The Soldier nodded. Fully agreeing with the Huntsmen. "I understand. Have you heard of any of the other Squads? we lost comms when we crashed." asked the old veteran soldier. The cyborg glanced over at the far side of the base. smoke and fires were spreading onto other buildings and in the distance he could hear multiple fire fights going on. Explosions and gunfire lighting the sky along with the lightening from the storm. He turned back to face the Alpha team leader. "They were all scattered on landing. I didn't see any of our men on my way here. It's possible that other teams have made it to the walls. But that's only an a assumption." He told the soldier.

The old soldier sighed. "Damn it all. This whole mission has gone to hell. Alright. I'll get the men ready. Though some of us might be too injured to continue the mission." He said while moving off to gather the remaining Deadkillers.

The Cyborg couldn't help but agree with what the man had said. it was true. the Plan had been a disaster from the start. Jaune had not anticipated Adam to come out himself to deal with the airships. That was a fault that he had failed to foresee. In war, there was no room for mistakes. Not one. Mistakes got people killed. Mistakes no matter how small, could cost you the war. HE had made a mistake. And his men had paid the price with there lives. It was events like this that were also a part of what changed Jaune from the carefree innocent and goofy teenager, to the cold killing machine he was today. The years of having to lose people because of what you did had started to break him. And now, He was broken.

Jaune remembered when he first snapped. It was months after he had awoken to his cybernetic body. He was directing evacuations for families at Haven academy. He had made the mistake of leading a group of soldiers and huntsmen to direct the White Fangs assault away from the academy. But in doing so, he had left only a few soldiers left to protect the civilians. They were all slaughtered when Waves and waves of Grimm broke through the cities walls and attacked. Over 500 soldiers died. But that wasn't the main catastrophe, It was the deaths of the civilians. Over 600,000 people were killed when the Grimm invaded. Only 10 percent made it out of the city.

Jaune's remaining threads of his old self died that day. He couldn't bear to know that he was responsible for the deaths of so many. He had wandered into the bad lands with his mind shattered. Jaune had lost count of how many Grimm he had killed that day. All he new is that he was in the middle of ripping apart his 5th Goliath when a Nevermore fired one of its razor feather stalks right threw his chest, with the tip piercing out of his back. All he remembered was pulling out the stalk from his chest and dropping to his knees, bleeding out. He fell an lay there, alone, dying. His vision was fading. But before he blacked out, He saw Ruby, cradling him in her arms as she cried. Begging him to hold on.

Jaune was brought out of his trance when he noticed 5 of the 8 members of Alpha squad were ready to continue the mission. All of them switching the safety off on their weapons and nodding as a signal that they were ready. He looked over to the teams leader for confirmation. The old Deadkiller only pumped his shotgun and gave a thumbs up.

The Dark Knight then moved along with the Dead Killers. If they Don't destroy those shelters, they'll be cut of from the main attack force Being lead by Ruby. And with out any air support, the White Fang will eventually pick them off one by one. And the battle will be lost. They were running out of time.

The Deadkillers were about to double time it but stopped in their tracks when they heard someone call out. "Stop!" The Dark Knight snapped his head back to try and locate whom it was that yelled. His blue eyes widened a little. He was mildly surprised to see Helena awake and limping in their direction. Her face doing it's best to hide the pain she was in. "Don't leave yet. i can do this." She said while breathing heavily. Her leader shook his head. Unconvinced. "Soldier, Your wounded. You can barely walk let alone run. Stay with the others. They'll be a medevac on it's way soon." He said dismissing her as he waved the girl off. The young Deadkiller didn't budge. "I can do this sir! Just give me a chance!" She begged. wanting to prove her self. The squad leader opened his mouth to speak but felt Jaunes servo placed on his shoulder. signaling him to remain silent. He looked at the Huntsmen and sighed. letting the Cyborg handle the young recruit.

The cyborg walked forward. Jaune Looked into the eyes of the girl infront of him. He studied her eyes. Full of life. She was dedicated to do what was right. eager to please those around her. ' _she reminds me of myself when i was younger.'_ thought the Dark Knight. "Hold still." He ordered. The young girl straightened herself up and did what he told her. Jaune raised a servo and placed the tips of his claws on her temple. He transferred a part of his aura to help heal her leg. His body glowed with black outlined with gold as he did this. The girls own aura lit up a light purple as she could feel her leg gaining instant relief. She sighed gratefully. Jaune withdrew his servo and moved back with the rest of the DeadKillers. "I put a aura based cast around the bone in your leg. it wont last longer then an hour or so. i'd recommend that you stay close to the others. He said as he made his way to the front. The girl whispered a thank you and ran up to join her fellow deadkillers.

"Lets move! Commander Rose needs those Shelters taken care of!" Shouted the squad leader as they ran off to rage war on the White fang.

* * *

Jaune swiftly slid under a hammer strike by a huge Faunus. He held some sort of bladed hammer as he swung it at the black Cyborg. This huge beast of a man was the only thing that stood between him and the artillery shelter he was protecting. so far he had been a fair challenge. But Jaune had no time. The North wall and east wall had to be cleared, or else Ruby can't send in the rest of the forces. In order to save them time Jaune ordered the alpha to take out shelter 1 while he dealt with 3.

He rolled backwards to avoid another strike from the huge bear Faunus that seemed hell bent on killing Jaune. "Stay still!" He shouted in rage. He swung the blade end of the hammer outwards to try and cut the Knight in half. Jaune stepped back and activated his Hard-Light shield and blocked the fast second strike from his opponent. This surprised and caught him off guard, Jaune took the opening and activated his energy sword, named Solarflare, and slashed smoothly across his enemy's waist, cleanly cutting the Bear faunus in two half's. The Fang member didn't even know he was dead until his body hit the floor in two parts.

Jaune ran past the corpse into the shelter with his shield and sword still drawn and wiped out the artillery crew within seconds. painting the area in red. He paced an explosive on the huge cannon and got out as fast as he could. Once he reached a safe distance, he detonated the explosive and completely destroyed the gun in a massive wave of red and orange fire.

"This is Jaune, Shelter 3 is cleared." He reported through the comm line. It didn't take long before The leader of Alpha responded. "Roger that. We're nearly done with shelter 1. Sigma squad has arrived and is giving us fire support."

The Arc looked over the last stronghold of the white Fang. It was a warzone plain and simple. Over 60 percent of the Deadkillers hadn't made it to the walls. Most were still fighting in in the heart of the base. "Understood. And what of Delta?" He asked. The response back was not good. "We have confirmation from Sigma that all units of Delta have been listed as KIA. Squads on walls west and south have only half of the main force required, but are still making progress." Alpha leader informed him.

The blond haired arc lowered his head and sighed. _'Even more dead_.' He looked over and saw in the distance the remaining target on the east wall. He started moving towards it. "Regroup with me on the east wall with Sigma. Together we'll eliminate Shelter 7." He ordered. He didn't even wait for the leaders response as he ran and fought his way to the other wall.

He deactivated his shield and Solarflare and pulled out his twin HF daggers (Vanguard and Sentinel) and engaged in full combat. He blocked Two attackers at once and slipped under both of their defenses. He turned on the balls of his cybernetic foot and kicked one on the back of his knees, causing him to stumble and fall on his team mate. Jaune plunged the daggers threw the backs of both of their necks and killing them quickly. he evaded to the left and deflected the bullets from a sniper based further back near the shelter. Jaune funneled his Aura into his lower limbs and sprinted forward. Closing the distance within seconds. His eyes widened when his spotted a missile was fired in his direction. With no time to change course of direction, he had to do something that he hadn't used in over 4 years. Use his semblance.

He closed his eyes and spread his arms out. A sudden blue glow erupted from his body. It expanded around Him like a second skin. His eyes were now glowing neon blue like his semblance and he was hit dead on from the Missile. Back and gray smoke covered the area where the missile had impacted. The RPG holding Faunus smirked at his kill. "Got you, you abomination." The sniper Couldn't see anything through the smoke. Unlike the other Fang member beside him, He didn't want to leave anything to chance.

He checked through the scope again to see if the Huntsmen was truly dead. He just about shit himself when all he could see was a cold, blue eye staring back at him. Before he could even scream a Black HF blade was embedded into the base of his skull.

In a state of shock, The RPG wielding fox Faunus tried to run. He didn't even make it past three steps before his body was riddled with bullet holes. The body collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Jaune blew the smoke away from the barrels of his mini-gun before he mecha-shifted it back to its hand form. Jaune grunted in annoyance before jumped from the snipers nest and continued running across the wall.

* * *

 _ **I'm so sorry that i had to stop the chapter here. But it was getting to long for me to write out. this it officially my longest chapter that i have ever done in my whole time on fanfiction. Ever. 5668 words. It got so long that i had to put the rest of the battle in chapter 2. I hope that your all not too annoyed with me. again, i am sorry for any grammar or any spelling issues. As always, have a nice night and goodbye.**_


	3. message for you guys

**This just a message people. I am just here to inform you all that i'll have chapter 2 uploaded in a few hours or a day from now. This is my biggest chapter that i have written so far. The length of it is just getting ridiculous for me. I really have gone beyond my usual limits of just 1500 to 3000 words. I've just done a 8000 word chapter, soon to be 10,000 by later tonight or tomorrow. I really hope that you guys will enjoy it when it uploads. Fingers crossed. anyway, i'll see you later. stay tuned everyone!**

 **Unholy Prophet, signing out :)**


	4. chapter 2

**_Edit 9/11/2016: I am so sorry everyone! I am not dead! My laptop broke down and had to get it repaired. I just got it back today and boy do i have some catching up to do. Anyway, it's nice to be back._**

 ** _Hey! The Prophet is back people. Welcome to chapter 2 of 'You're but a shadow of who you used to be.' You guys cant even believe how thankful i am for the follows, favs, and reviews. You all have my thanks for your support. I'd like to apologize for not finishing the rest of the battle in chapter 1 part 2, but as i said before, i am not accustomed with writing chapters any longer then 3000+ words per chapter. As you have seen, i have blown way past my usual limit. it's going to be hard but i'll try and expand every chapter from here on out to be 4000 to 5000 from now on._**

 ** _Now, i'll only say this once more because i am getting forgetful of doing this every time. RWBY as you all know, dose not belong to me. All of it belongs to it's owners Rooster teeth and Monty Oum. God bless his soul._**

 ** _Now, moving on. And remember, i am sorry for any mistakes in my grammar. I tend not to re-check my work when i release them on the website. It's a bad habit of mine, i know. Now, read on my friends. :)_**

* * *

 _'For a faction that's down to only a splinter of how large it once was, they never seem to stop being an inconvenience. They have become more then a thorn in my side as of late.'_ A Rather irritated knight muttered under his breath as he cut his way through lines of enemy troops. The fight to the East wall had proven more of a challenge then the blond cyborg had originally anticipated. The White Fang soldiers knew what would happen if The Dark knight succeeded in breaking their defenses. He'd reach the Artillery shelter and eliminate it. That cannot be allowed. Adam had commanded it. The Fang troops intended to keep the cyborg as far away from it as possible.

The troops had moved up in rows of 12 soldiers in each line in order to overwhelm the lone figure, each had their weapons drawn and readied. The top of the wall was crowded with the masses of soldiers all holding standard automatic dust rifles and melee weapons. Ranging from long swords, to two handed maces for close quarters.

The approaching Knight hardly even batted an eye lid at the sight of the numerous faunus terrorists. After with retrieving his blade that was embedded within an unfortunate deer faunus and pushing the standing corpse onto the the metal railing, Jaune narrowed his eyes after flicking the blood off of Vanguard. He counted at least 30 or so hostiles blocking his path. With limited cover and no way around, he simply decided to do a frontal assault. Not the wisest decision for a well renown tactician such as himself, but beggars cant be choosers.

Jaune's faceplate slammed shut, enclosing over his face as his HUD activated, giving him an enhanced view on the surroundings around him. The visor was now completely rebooted as the VI (virtual Intelligence) that was built into the faceplate began to run a diagnostics and examined The cyborgs current situation. It instantly ran through the best solutions and scenarios that Jaune could use in his advance to engage the blockade of Fang soldiers. The screen of the visor highlighted all of Jaunes targets in red outlines and a circular radar was present below in the lower left corner of the screen.

The VI Jaune simply named 'Valor' Identified each individual enemies threat level by the types of weaponry was being held and their physical appearance by recording their Aura level and type. It processed each targets difficulty in combat out of a 0 to 200. The color of the enemy would change depending on the threat level that they displayed. Jaune's visor lit up briefly as the VI sent out a plus and Processed each targets threat level. Not even over a second later the screen updated with only four of the 30 enemies being over 20/200 and the rest being pitifully lower. The four others highlights changed to a dark orange which made them easy to spot among the other red outlined faunus.

Jaune smirked, now satisfied with the results, he readied himself and he charged forward with blinding speeds causing the Faunus to retaliate by firing their weapons relentlessly with no show of mercy. Dust Bullets, missiles and grenades went flying across the top of the massive wall at the moving shadow.

"Concentrate all fire on the Dark Knight! He is priority target number two for elimination!"

Ordered a White Fang Lieutenant, pointing in the post human's direction before resuming back to shooting and barking out orders. Jaune swiftly dodged and evaded the hellfire with graceful ease. Easily twisting and turning out of the way from incoming missiles as they shot past him. He ducked and dived from close explosions as he zig zagged out of the rang of the detonating grenades. Faint traces of gold shrouded in blackness trailed behind the engaging Knight as he ran, metallic feet tapping lightly across the metal railing while the sheer speed blew his trench coat back. Any shots that he couldn't avoid, he'd simply deflect them with Vanguard and Sentinel without difficultly.

While running, Jaune was looking for an opening or a break in the enemy lines. He could see none. He sent a mental command for his VI to search for any methods of catching them off guard. Seconds later, a NAV point lit up 20 meters ahead of him. A small mini map projected up in the right corner of his screen. It showed a maintenance pip line under the surface of the wall's walkway. It led straight under the blockade of White Fang soldiers that blocked his path.

 _'_ _Perfect.'_

Thought the blond knight as a plan emerged inside his head. He pulled a smoke grenade from his trench coat. He ripped the pin out with his teeth and thew it ahead of him with a calculated throw. Moments later gray smoke flooded out from the grenade casing and expanded out wide, making visibility nigh impossible for those close to the smoke cloud. This however, did not stop the Fang from shooting their weapons continuously. Only having brief pauses to reload. They shouted in surprise at the unexpected action from the Knight. It took little time however as they soon regained their senses. All had their eyes focused on any movement that could be seen coming out of the gray cloud.

Jaune didn't waste the opportunity he was given. He ceased his sprinting and slide to a stop just feet before reaching the NAV point Valor had set. He looked at the metal floor and activated Solarflare. It's Neon blue light emitting from the blade. He sunk the glowing sword in into the titanium floor, melting the metal. He cut through the floor and made himself a wide enough entrance for him to fit. Once that was done he glanced up to check if the smokescreen was still providing him cover.

He ducked his head down only out of instinct, just missing an incoming rocket shooting past by mere inches.

The smoke was still there. But fading fast. the wind from the storm only made it fade faster as it blew the gray cloud constantly. Jaune deactivated his energy sword and jumped into the hole and vanished in the blackness of the tunnel below.

* * *

Lieutenant Ezrah was not one for retaining his patience. He was a man of action and ambition. He was efficient enough to fight tooth and nail to get to where he was today.

He was the company leader of the White fangs fifth division and commander of the East wall artillery bombardment shelter and local SGT of the Vacuo Command Center. Quite the achievement for one individual such as himself. To be this high ranked among his fellow brothers and sisters, to led their race to achieve their long awaited goal filled him with pride. He was loyal and proud to serve under his leader, Adam Taurus, the pinnacle of their cause. If it weren't for Adam, The faunus race would of remained a slave to their human counterparts. He couldn't of asked for anyone better to lead them.

Adam himself had reported to Ezrah that the North and south walls had fallen during the attack. Adam had then given orders for the Lieutenant to defend the East wall Shelter at all costs. Ezrah was only happy to serve his General.

The dog faunus had seen the Bullheads carrying The humans (and traitorous Faunus) most elite force, the Deadkillers from a distance. They had attacked the base from above and dropped in the Deadkillers right in the heart of the base. So far they had been the cause of heavy causalities around the whole stronghold. If the reports were accurate, Then they had only focused on attacking the walls and bringing down their defenses. They haven't breached the inside of the main complex though, for now.

' _Good.'_ Thought Ezrah. ' _Then Adam and Banesaw can proceed with project 'Salvation' before the human resistance can figure out that they've already lost.'_

However, as time passed by, during the events just before the fall of the north wall, He was informed that there had been sightings of the Dark Knight,

(who used to be referred to as the white knight) slaughtering everyone and anything in his path. This had made the White Fang lieutenant unnerved to no end.

The Dark Knight was the most dangerous and feared enemy the Fang had faced during the war. The knight was listed as a high priority target that **must** be eliminated. He is target number two of only two targets. Number one was Ruby Rose. Or more commonly known as, Red Reaper. She was marked as target number one because of her ability of inheriting the Silver Eyes and the fact that she leads the remains of humanity, along with having the loyalty of the Dark knight.

The Former White knight had earned his reputation for being a cold, relentless, and efficient killer during the past five years of the war. He was responsible for single handedly decimating the white fangs head of operations in the badlands in Vale. Their biggest Command stronghold during the late stages of the war. After killing the majority of the bases defenders, He destroyed the barriers keeping the hordes of Grimm out from overrunning the base.

No one survived.

If they weren't mercilessly cut down from the cold blooded cyborg, then they were eaten and ripped to peaces from the creatures of darkness. From there, his reputation got worse. He went from killing soldiers, to killing anyone associated with the White Fang entirely. The Dark Knight had broken into one of the fangs supply camps that housed many faunus civilians that transported food and other essentials to the Fang soldiers who were in battle. The former human had killed everyone in the camp in less then a hour and burnt down everything to the ground. The whole radius of 5 miles was nothing but a red and orange inferno.

And only a year prior, the biggest atrocity to the White Fang to date shocked everyone.

Adam had fallen in battle after the Knight had confronted him directly during the fall of Outpost Tidus. The Cyborg and the faunus leader fought for hours without end, Neither gaining the upper hand. It was When Adam became distracted after spotting a child faunus boy, trapped under a fallen steel beam. Flames slowly reaching the small child while he pleaded for help.

That distraction had cost the Bull faunus dearly. The Dark Knight slashed his sword across his eyes, taking away his sight. Ezrah winched at the memory. He had seen the condition his leader was in himself after being apart of the rescue group that evacuated their fallen leader from the explosion of the destroyed outpost.

For the first time in the war, the veteran lieutenant thought that the Fang would lose against humanity. If it were not for the upgrades they stole from the Schnee facility in Vale, The leader of the White Fang would of remained sightless and weak. Adam had received implants and optics for his eyes. That Grimm mask that he wears pridefully, is now a part of the bull faunus. That mask is what allows him to see. And because of that mask it allowed him to lead the revolution once again.

This is why the lieutenant feared his current situation. The **Dark Knight** was here. And approaching the East wall. While Ezrah may have had years of combat experience and a large company of troops under his command, the odds were not in his favor. And **He** knew it.

The nervous faunus gathered every solider he had under him and made a blockade in order to halt the Knights onslaught. He could feel the beads of sweat on his forehead form and his arms gripping his weapon tightly, shaking under the stress. He glanced at his fellow brothers and sisters and barked out orders. His eyes widened in shock at the approaching cyborg from a distance.

He aimed down the sights of his rifle started firing. "All units, open fire!" He shouted out, doing his best to cover his anxiety. In the span of two seconds, all 30 plus men and woman fired at will. The deafening sounds of dust bullets bursting from the barrels of the rifles blocked out the sounds of thunder and the explosions of the grenades lit up the night.

The lone human machine carelessly evaded their attempts to end him. His progress continued without even being slowed in the slightest. This caused the lieutenant to panic. ' _He's getting too close!_ ' He cursed in frustration.

"Concentrate all fire on the Dark Knight! He is priority target number two for elimination!" He screamed out. No doubt his soldiers already knew this, but he had to find a way to motivate them to increase their efforts to stop the Knight.

He was caught off guard when the cyborg thew out a smoke grenade and produced a smoke screen. This was not good. They couldn't see the enemy. They were blind to his movements. Ezrah impatiently reached over and hefted up a Explosive dust RPG and began firing. His troops then followed suit and continued to shoot blindly through the grey smoke. Thankfully, the wind of the storm had picked up and caused the smoke screen to quickly fade in the forecast.

Ezrah had to hold back a gasp at the sight of what he saw. The knight was no where in sight. Only the empty walkway riddled with bullet holes and small craters created by the explosions could be seen. "Damn it! Where the hell did he go?" Asked one of the Privets while reloading his firearm. Ezrah muttered under his breath in anger "Shit! This is bad. Corporal taylor, notify the artillery shelter to reinforce their defenses. The-"

He was Cut off mid sentence when 10mm armor piercing Dust rounds erupted from underneath them. Hundreds of projectiles shooting up through the bottom of the titanium floor. No one had time to react, completely caught off guard. Soldiers left, right, and center began dropping like flies, some of the bodies collapsing to the ground in a bloody mass of red to the ground. Screams of fear and agony could be heard from kilometers away.

In the panic, Ezrah was powerless. He could do nothing as his brethren were massacred before his eyes. The ground was soon stained crimson from the blood of the corpses now littering the walkway. The Bullets continued firing up from the ground, some of them even shooting through the bodies of dead troops. Ezrah, remained standing on the small barrier shell shocked. He couldn't even muster the strength to speak let alone move. His eyes were wide. All of his troops, dead. Some of the bodies were not even recognizable, only a heap of bone, flesh and blood. He felt tears falling from the corner of his eyes. He had spent years with some of the members in his company group. All of them were his version of a family. To see them all gone in a span of a minute, destroyed him.

The Storm of bullets soon ceased fire. Hundreds upon Hundreds of holes marked the based of the walkway. A brief moment of silence passed. The only sound audible was the battle in the background. A Blue energy sword burst through the floor, melting the metal. The Blade moved in a few arcs before it soon deactivated. A black figure burst through the floor effortlessly, Sending parts of metallic railing through the air. The figure landed gracefully on his feet and stood at his full height. His knee length trench coat blew and flapped in the wind and rain. Lightening flashed through the sky aggressively. It's natural light exposing the figures identity to the stunned faunus Lieutenant. Ezrah was looking at the face of the Dark Knight.

Cold, faded blue eyes met Ezrah with a killing intent. The black cyborg moved slowly towards his direction. The clanking of his cybernetic feet against the metal railing floor was slow and steady in his wake. The White fang soldier began to stutter and quiver before the former White Knight. "Yo-you fucking murderer! You slaughtered them all like animals!" The approaching Knight stopped when he was face to face with the enraged faunus. Ezrah didn't even have time to register the black blade that was embedded in his chest as his vision darkened. "Then they should of switched sides." Was the dark response from the former human. The Knight pulled the blade out of Ezrahs chest and turned his back on the dying faunus.

Ezrah fell to the floor, blood seeping out of his chest as he bleed out. The last thing he saw was the back of the Dark Knight was he walked down the walkway towards the artillery shelter further down the wall. He closed his eyes as darkness consumed his vision.

* * *

Jaune speed up at the sound of gunfire further up ahead of him. He was close enough to hear the struggle between the Deadkillers and defending Fang members. He maneuvered over the fallen bodies scattered across the floor. He Reached The nearest group in the middle of a close quarters fight. Judging from the insignia on the uniform, this was Sigma squad. He was going to intervene and assist their captain, who seemed to be in a struggle with another White Fang Lieutenant. The Captain proved his worth when he activated his semblance and overpowered his opponent. He Shifted his pulse cannon into glaive (It's a type of bladed spear) And impaled his enemy in the abdomen. He gave off a war cry and shoved the dead soldier off the side of the wall.

Jaune quickly approached the Deadkiller ahead of him. "Captain Port. What's the situation?" He asked while observing the battlefield behind cover. The overly cheerful Man turned to face him with a questionably large smile. After spotting the black Cyborg He released a hefty laugh and gave him a salute. "Commander! Good to see that you decided to join the party. I thought that i would of had to lead this glorious attack on my own! ho, HO!" He chuckled while grabbing his shaking stomach. Jaune grunted in slight annoyance.

' _It's almost frightening to see the resemblance between Ben and his grandfather Peter.'_

Shaking the thought from his mind, He focused on the task at hand. "Update soldier, now." He demanded while clenching his metallic jaw in mild frustration. Ben Port ducked down behind cover as bullets flew overhead. "We have made good progress Commander, no need to worry. But We have been stuck in a bit of a jam as of late. The Buggers have placed turrets upon the walkway, cutting us of from Alpha squad. We've run out of ammunition and had to resort to using our melee weapon forms to fight. None of us have the aura or training to get past the amount of fire the turrets are dishing out." The jolly man relayed to the blond cyborg.

A Deadkiller Warrant Officer Moved up to the next line of sand bags ahead of the Captain and Commander. He didn't get far after being shot three times in the chest only mere feet from the barrier. "Oh, bugger." said Ben while looking over to see one of his men wounded. "We got a man down! Jefferson! Get over here now! Officer Dean is wounded." Ordered the Sigma squad leader.

Jaunes visor let out another pulse. Studying the best way possible to eliminate the guns on the walls. Only four were mounted. He checked for any ammunition left for his mini guns. **[Zero rounds remaining]** It read across his screen. "Damn." He muttered under his breath. All logical answers for an engagement did not seem to please Jaune in the slightest. He looked over to the leader of sigma trying to direct his men to moved forward. He looked at Ben Port's weapon. It was a well built gailve with dust infused electrical currents running through the blade. Suddenly, an idea struck him.

"captain Port." He called to the Deadkiller. Port snapped his head back to him, his usual happy nature now back in place. Jaune pointed to the opposition of turrets. "I'd like you to hand over your weapon for a moment." He asked bluntly. The Captain beamed at his Commander. "If you say so sir!" Without question, The young man tossed his treasured weapon over to the black figure. Jaune caught it with a clawed servo and studied the layout. He nodded in approval. Taking a breath, he jumped over the sandbag barrier he was behind and ran forward. He Jumped onto the edge of the wall and sprinted across the beams with perfect balance. Nearing the first gun turret he jumped up and twisted his body around. Using the momentum, he quickly activated Solarflare and slashed the blue plasma blade across the base of the gun. cutting through it like butter and melting the steel with ease.

Jaune landed and moved forward into a dive roll. He felt the air of bullets fly past his hair and arms as he continued his roll. Coming out of the motion, Jaune extended the Gailve from it's compact form and aimed with the aid of his HUD. With an aggressive thrust, the weapon flew through the air, speeds almost breaking the sound barrier as it made contact with the enemy turret. The sheer speed of the spear hitting the top of the gun caused it to completely detach from the ground and explode in an electrical blaze.

Jaune drew both of his black HF blades from their sheaths, Vanguard and Sentinel. He calculated the distance and exact position of the remaining targets. He bent his knees and drove his arms up and threw both of the blades at the two remaining turrets on the other side of the wall. Both blades connected, hitting the turrets targeting system and thus, causing them to immediately cease their fire. Jaune walked over and retrieved his weapons and Ports. He turned his head to look over his shoulder and saw Sigma squad running up to his position. Port ran up and clapped him on the back hard. "Jolly good work Commander! That was an amazing display of a true Hunter!" Phrased Ben. Jaune handed over his weapon back to the Captain and began running with the rest of Sigma.

"The Shelter is up ahead. Alpha should be there now." Port told him as he readied him self for the fight to come. Jaune enhanced his zoom function and identified Alpha squad in the middle of an all of war between the Deadkillers and White Fang. The faunus were fighting with crazed desperation to hold off the attacks. It was a stalemate on both sides.

* * *

The Captain of Alpha squad was relaying orders to his men when a sniper fired a round into his calf muscle. He yelled out in pain and dropped to his hands and knees. He didn't have time to move when he spotted an approaching single eyed masked faunus, welding a double ended spiked mace while moving to his position. He reached over to grab his shotgun but his opponent kicked the weapon away. He then connected his knee into the Deadkillers jaw and sent him stumbling over onto his back. He raised both of his arms to finish the downed human when a young girl activated her semblance and charged the towering figure. Purple aura seeped into her weapon as she Mecha shifted her assault rifle into two twin Sykes fighting knifes and Engaged him head on. The recruit charged in with a right overhand strike that followed up with a left side slash. The faunus parried the strikes and swung the end of his mace downward in order to connect the strike with the girls head.

Helena narrowly weaved to the left, just missing the attack by mere inches. She jumped backwards when her enemy threw out a side kick to catch her off guard. The Deadkiller then evaded the other end of the mace as it crashed into the ground, creating a large dent in the process. The teen yelled out as she then thrust both of her daggers in a stabbing motion, aiming for the chest. Her opponent chuckled at the predictable move. He had expected this from her after briefly studying her movements and attack pattern. He spun his double ended mace like a Bo staff and had both ends facing outward from his body. He brought his weapon down hard and caught both of the girls blades and disarmed her in an instant. Helena gasped in shock. She was completely defenseless. The massive wolf faunus smirked under his mask at her state. He proceeded with his attack and spun his mace around and smashed the end against the girls chest. Sending her crashing onto the metal railing.

The young Deadkiller's back hit the ground hard. In that one strike, it completely depleted her aura. The purple outlining her body faded away. Helena cried out in pain. The teen now felt her broken leg throbbing angrily and her chest felt like it wanted to explode. She looked up at her attacker. Her eyes widening in despair as he closed in on her. She tried to move backwards but was halted when the mountain of a man stomped his foot down on her injured leg aggressively. Helena screamed out in agony from her leg being crushed under the heavy weight. She desperately fought to get him off of her but to no avail. She then attempted to use her other leg to kick at him. The cyclopes masked faunus laughed at her and slammed his mace down onto her chest. The teen went limp, Her lungs begging for air that she couldn't suck in. Her rips felt like they wanted to cave and shatter. The single eye of the bone white mask lit up in its red light as the figure was preparing himself to finish killing her. He stopped when he herd the pumping of a shotgun behind him. He turned to locate the source of the noise, only to see the end of a barrel aimed at his face. The wounded Captain held the weapon with one arm and sneered at the huge man. "Take this, you sack of Grimm shit." Grunted out the aged veteran as he pulled the trigger. The blast connected and caused the White Fangs's soldiers head snapped back as he fell backwards towards the edge of the wall and fell 50 feet to the bottom.

The Alpha squad leader moaned in pain as he pumped his shotgun tiredly, loading in a new shell. "You alright there, kid?" He asked as he fired at another soldier, killing him quickly. He limped over behind cover beside the young recruit and started shooting at more enemies. The Girl coughed and gritted her teeth. "I'm okay Captain Anderson. But i think my leg is busted." Helena crawled over behind the sandbags and sighed. Captain Anderson chuckled at her. "Me and you both kiddo."

He said while kicking her knifes over to her. Helena nodded gratefully and reformed her blades back into her dust assault rifle. The young Deadkiller began shooting alongside her leader. Anderson glanced around the battlefield and the fight going on between his men and the enemy troops protecting the shelter. All of his men were scattered along the walkway with Deadkillers wounded or still fighting for their lives. He looked over to the Fang members protecting the shelter. They were pushing him and his men back. He muttered a series of curses and insults. "Shit." He looked over to his right and fired at another faunus soldier trying to flank him and Helena. He fired a round into his chest and ended him then and there.

Anderson activated his comm and spoke. "Alpha! Fallback to the last line of sandbag barriers! We have too many wounded to continue with a all out assault on the Shelter! We'll have to hold them here!" He ordered. The scattered Deadkillers received the command and began a tactical fight and retreat method whilst dragging their teammates who were too injured to stand on their own. They slowly made their way back to the last line of barriers where the Captain was. The gunfire was horrendous and deafening. The rain and weather only made the situation more miserable. "We got a group of them moving up from the northwest!" Shouted PVT Jrome Pointing in the direction.

Staff Sargent Raymond pulled the pin of a grenade "I got it! Grenade out!" He warned as he heaved the explosive over the barrier. A orange explosive erupted and the bodies of dead soldiers flew in the air as the grenade detonated. The Staff Sargent resumed shooting from his RPD. "Where the fuck it out support! We cant hold out with only one squadron of Deadkillers!" Raymond called out over the gunfire.

Anderson snarled after he shot down another troop. "We just have to hold out until Sigma gets here! Just keep up the pressure!" Jrome Ducked under cover as gunfire hit the sandbags. "With all due respect, Sir! We won't last much longer like this!" The PVT then moved over to tend to a wounded Deadkiller.

"Duly noted soldier!" Anderson snapped back. Helena Shot down another three more before swapping mags, biting back the pain in her leg.

The Deadkillers fought on for another 10 minutes before things started to become dire. Jrome, after moving off to hep with the fire support was shot in the head, his body going limp as it fell to the ground, un-moving. Raymond cried out in despair. "Jrome! No!" Eyes watering. He snapped his head back to the defending White fang members. He felt primal rage fill him as his eyes twitched. "You fucking animals are dead! You fucking here me! Dead!" And with that, he jumped over the barrier and charged the enemy in a berserker rage. Anderson called out to him in desperation. "Sargent! Get your ass back here now! Damn it!"

The Deadkiller ran at the first target in front of him. He ducked under the ongoing fire of the Fang member. He uppercut the soldier in the jaw, sending him off his feet. Raymond pointed his RPD in the downed enemies face and fired before moving off. He Shot down two more to his right before smashing the butt of his weapon into the face of one to his left. He punched him in the throat and kicked him off the wall. He turned around and spotted a group moving to surround him. He dodged a sword strike and headbutted the masked trooper. Knocking him to the floor. He kicked the side of his face and snapped his neck, killing him. The Sargent looked around and saw at least 12 men had him boxed in. He attempted to shoot at them but was attacked before he had the chance. He was stabbed in the shoulder from a knife user. grunting in pain he managed to push the attacker away. by the time he did, the others were already on him. He was on his own, and that was his own fault. He closed his eyes and waited for the finishing strike to hit.

It never came.

Confused, he opened his eyes and saw only 12 dead White Fang soldiers. All in a circle around him. Nothing left of them but a bloody mass of flesh and bone. In the middle was a black figure who stared at him, His faceplate covering his eyes but he knew they were boring into his soul. The blood was still dripping off of his daggers as he looked at him disapprovingly. "You disobeyed orders, Deadkiller." Jaune Arc said with a calm voice. They both took cover behind the sand bags as the battle continued. Raymond was no fool, The Dark Knight may seem calm and emotionless, But work or train under him long enough you soon get to pick up on his behavior patterns. And he Knew he was in for some major shit for disobeying orders when this was over.

"i-i'm sorry Commander. I have no excuse. for my action." He admitted. Jaune waved him off. "We will deal with this at a later date, Sargent. We have a shelter to eliminate." The Arc spoke evenly. As if on queue, Sigma and the remains of Alpha squad charged past them, going in guns and blazing. The Leader of Sigma squad cheered and laughed as he killed enemies left right and center. He felt a clawed servo on his armored shoulder. he looked up and saw Jaune nodding to him.

"I know why you did what you did. It was out of grief and anger. Be sure to use that anger to your advantage and to not let it consume you like it has with so many others." He told him. When Raymond stiffly nodded in understanding, Jaune then ran off to join the fight.

* * *

The armies of humanity waited in the darkness of night. Watching the battle between their most elite units and the White Fang from afar. The tanks, trucks, armored cars, and jeeps all had their engines hot and ready to charge on the base at the order. The bullheads had landed and refueled and quickly have been repaired for the main fight ahead. Silver eyes studied the ongoing battle on the walls in anticipation and worry. Ruby Had her hands balled into fists, her knuckles going white. Her hood was up to hide her growing concern. The remains of her red cloak blew violently in the wind. Her current armor had kept her warm and dry from the weather, thankfully enough. But it did little to ease her mind from current events. The attack so far had not gone to plan. During the drop off of the Deadkillers, over three dropships had been shot down and an estimated total of 24 Deadkillers were listed as KIA. And that was before the attack had even begun.

Things continued to go downhill from there. Jaune had to force Her to relay the Bullhead away from the base in order to remain safe from being shot down. Thus, leaving Jaune and his Deadkilllers without any air support or evacuation.

It had been 90 minutes since she has had any contact with Jaune since he last radioed. And that's what scared her the most. She had no idea what kind of situation the Deadkillers and Jaune were in at the moment. The only evidence she had that proved that they were still fighting was the constant explosions and the echos of gunfire all over the base. Ruby sighed. She was getting nervous. But who could blame her? This was the last battle of the war. The last fight to achieve the survival of humanity, and faunus kind alike.

She also had the fear of confronting Adam Taurus. She was afraid of what Jaune might do when he confronts the ex-revolutionist for the final time. Adam was the reason why Jaune became what he was today. A Shadow. Ruby hated to admit it but it was the cold. Hard. Truth.

Jaune was no longer the carefree, happy, positive and caring boy she once knew. All that was left was a nigh unstoppable killing machine hell bent on achieving one goal. Killing Adam at all costs.

Ruby, or course had shared her own personal hatred towards the Bull faunus for what he did to Blake and...Yang. Her eyes watered at the thought of her dead sister. It still hurt to think about. The pain of losing her mother, her father, her uncle Qrow, and finally, Yang made it hard for the reaper to stay sane to those that needed her. Especially Jaune. Ruby sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. This is why she cared so much about him. He was all she had left in the world. And Jaune, the same with her. She was brought out of her grim state of mind when she heard a soldier approach her, the crunching of sand against the soldiers boots alerted the woman.

"Ma'am. We may have to pull out soon if we don't get any signal from Huntsmen Arc. Time is of the essence." The soldier warned After saluting her respectfully. Ruby shook her head almost instantly after what he said. "No, we wait. Have the men ready. I want all safety's off on all the weapons. Have the Bullhead fire up their thrusters." She commanded, not looking at the soldier behind her as she focused on the warzone in the distance. The soldier bowed his head in acknowledgment. "Very well Ma'am. I'll be on it right away." And with that he left.

Ruby used an ounce of her semblance to release a small stream of rose petals streaming from the back of her cloak, blowing in the wind behind her. She glanced around the landscape. There was no light. only black and grey clouds covered the sky. Even during the daytime it was the same. What ever was left of humanity had fled to Vacuo after Vale was now marked as uninhabitable because of the numbers of Grimm. Even after Salem's defeat, Grimm still remained in the world. They were only leaderless, not destroyed like Ruby had once believed. Atlas was the only other safe haven in the planet that others could go to if you had any aircraft able enough to get there. There is a small stronghold that has managed to repel Grimm attacks. The population was little over 200 people that lived there. Ruby once housed her armies in Mantle, raging war against the White Fang before they pushed them all the way back to the huge desserts of Vacuo. Mantle was still a stable continent, Grimm wise anyway. But the country is almost 100 percent barren of life. Everyone moved off after the war destroyed the cities and homes of its residents.

Ruby began to wonder if it there was any point in continuing on with life after this. The Battle with Cinder, Then Salem, and then Adam? What was left of the world after that? She began to wonder and let her mind drift off. She was startled out of her daze when she saw multiple yellow and orange fiery explosions on each Wall of the base in the distance. Her earpiece came to life when a voice spoke to the young woman. _"Ruby, all artillery shelters have been eliminated. Proceed with the attack."_

In an instant, adrenaline pumped through her core. Her eye wide with determination and conviction. She was also relieved to hear that Jaune was alright.

Ruby reached up with her hand and pressed on her earpiece to reply to the Knight. "Understood Jaune. Commencing the attack now." Ruby then switched comm lines over to the main radio linked up to to every unit under her command. She took a breath and spoke.

 **(Play transformers age of extinction: Dinobot Charge)**

"This is Commander Rose. All units begin the attack. I repeat, begin the attack." She ordered. In just mere seconds, the voices of 2000 men and woman yelled out their war cries and cheers of anticipation. The roar of hundreds of vehicles soon joined the voices of the many souls. The convoy's of ground vehicles drove forward towards the base of the White Fang in high speeds. Ruby Glanced down at the charging force combined of humans and Faunus kind alike, closing the distance between them and the last stronghold of the terrorist faction that has plagued the world for 10 long years. There was no stopping the thousands of angered souls now.

the Red Rose Closed her eyes and allowed the rose petals to blow in the rough wind. Ruby snapped her eyes open and shoot forward, an insane burst of speed caused the sand dune she was standing on to explode due to the sudden blow back of air. Ruby had activated Her semblance. She ran at speeds that broke the sound barrier around her. She was now a red bullet speeding towards the base in the distance, quickly catching up with the engaging army ahead of her. Rose petals trailed behind her along with a trace of silver from her eyes. As she caught up with the others she could hear the cheering of the men and woman, cheering for her to lead them to victory. She smiled briefly as she sprinted across the wet sand under her feet. She glanced to her left and right sides, seeing the Tanks had broken off and formed two individual lines on each side of the other vehicles and stopped. All of the tanks aimed their cannons at the north wall and fired. The canister shells exploded on the 50 foot tall wall. The first line reloaded while the second line fired afterwards. Constantly unleashing hell on the now crippling wall and anyone on it.

Ruby and the others continued maintained their course. Ruby was now in the lead of the 2000 attackers, leading the charge like the heroes in the stories her sister used her read to her when she was a child. Her silver eyes gleamed brightly. The front wall of the stronghold collapsed under the barrage of 40 tank shells. Ruby glanced up and saw the fleet of Bullheads engaging in a striking run as they flew above her. Soldiers manned the miniguns in the opened hatches, ready to fire on the enemy. Ruby then looked past the wreckage of the wall and saw line of faunus troops gathering together to prevent them from breaching the defenses. ' _Not on my watch.'_ Declared the Red Reaper. Ruby then enhanced her speed and burst forward. She reached the breach in the wall and jumped high, clearing the distance between her and her targets in seconds. In blinding speeds she unclasped Crescent Rose from her back and shifted it from it's compact form into it's scythe mode. The black, red and white metal shifted and shaped into the deadly weapon. Ruby Tightened her grip and spun the blade around with her whole body in sync. The unfortunate White Fang soldiers didn't even register the attacking Huntress before it was too late. A red tornado spun and tore through their ranks by the dozens. Whole bodies were cleaved completely in half and heads and limbs were decapitated all over the court yard. The killing red and black mass jumped up onto the pillar of the downed wall and gazed down at the scattered groups of enemies. Ruby then shifted the scythe into her trusted sniper rifle. With perfect accuracy she aimed down the sights of her weapon, firing round after round at the targets below. The sheer force of the bullets were enough to punch a hole into a Goliath let alone aura-less soldiers. There whole bodies of soldiers had palm sized holes in their chest or completely missing limbs. the few that did manage to avoid being gunned down by the silver eyed Huntress fired their weapons at her.

Ruby reacted quickly and leaped from the pillar and landed on the roof of one of the buildings. She ran and hopped from one place to the next, firing off rounds whilst avoiding being shot her self. She eventually ran back and landed in front of the group of faunus bellow her. Again, she changed the form of her weapon into her next mode. The Shotgun figuration she added to remember her sister by. The Lethal weapon now held firmly in her hands, she activated her semblance and pulled the trigger. Firing off the high impact, incendiary, explosive shells into the would be victims to her weapon. 12 Shells soon found their targets in the base of 2.3 seconds of firing. She dived to the left, dodging the fire of a rocket flying past her and hitting the side of a warehouse. Ruby wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and breathed heavily. She glanced around and saw groups of Fang reinforcements approaching the area. She was about to move forward to attack when she snapped her head back to see multiple armored cars, jeeps and trucks speeding past her. The trucks unloading the soldiers as they barked out orders and formed into their teams and companies. She saw the Bullheads firing from above and launching missiles at vital targets like large buildings and enemy blockades. The Armored trucks were mowing down their targets with the machine gunners perched up top of the roof of the vehicles. Ruby could hear the tanks continuing the bombardment. No longer aiming for the wall, instead moving inside the base to assist the main attack force.

Ruby looked and saw all of her men entering the base and slowly pushing back the White Fang to the main Complex in the center of the base. It was a huge building that was hard to miss. Her silver eyes caught sight of black uniformed armored figures making their way across the top of the east wall further down the side of the base. ' _The Deadkillers_ ' Thought the Burnett. She decided to move as the war was so close to coming to an end. The Rose ran with the soldiers at her side as they engaged more enemies ahead of them.

 **(End of song. If it didn't already.)**

* * *

' _Well, she certainly knows how to make an entrance.'_ Jaune nodding approvingly at his friends display of attack. His eye twitched sightly when he heard the leader of Sigma cheering and clapping in joy. "Oh, would you look at that my good Commander! What a glorious time to be alive! Wouldn't you agree?" Asked Ben Port while laughing humor fully with his weapon rested against his shoulder. Jaune was standing atop of a ruined watchtower along with Alpha and Sigma Squads. Watching the battle below them taking place.

Anderson, the Captain of Alpha approached the cyborg, limping his way to him. "Sir, all remaining Deadkiller units are moving down to assist in the attack. The other squads have radioed and are awaiting your orders, Commander." He said while leaning on his good leg. The Huntsmen hummed in thought. His eyes narrowed. "How many men are listed as KIA?" He asked the Captain, Watching the Bullheads fly fast down bellow bombing the streets and pathways, clearing them of hostiles. He could hear the Gatling of the minigun's cutting down the foot soldiers on the ground. He heard the Captain respond with a pained voice. Emotion was in each word. "71 of our brothers and sisters are not going back home anymore, Commander." Everyone bowed their heads solemnly. Any Deadkiller that entered the program always understood the values of brotherhood, family and friendship. Every single Deadkiller knew one another from the training experience they all underwent when under the leadership of General Ironwood. The bonds between each member went deeper then blood ever could. Each member lost felt like losing ones family member. It made it even more painful to know now that the original 250 had been reduced to only 89. To know that their friends, their brothers and sisters, will never get to see the end of the war they all fought and sacrificed so much for.

"We'll give them a proper grave and service when this is over. I promise you that." The Arc vowed, keeping his voice low. The Captain behind him and the others nodded, thankful for the promise. Jaune then finally turned to face the others. "Captain Port, radio for evacuation and transport. Get the wounded back to the camp. All of you who are still able to stand, Link up with the other Deadkillers and join in the assault."

Port stepped forward and saluted. "You can count on me Commander." The others then tended to those who were injured and prepped them for transport. Jaune glanced over his soldiers one last time to check for any problems. Knowing now that they'll be alright and well, He walked to the edge of the ruined watchtower and fell forward. He fell off the tower, the current of wind blowing the lower half of his trench coat to flap violently. He spread his arms out to slow his decent to the ground. He drew both of his trusted blades and landed in the middle of two hostile soldiers . Moments before his feet hit the floor, He swiped both of his arms inward, decapitating the heads of the faunus terrorists. The bodies hit the ground silently as the last of the Arc's sprinted into the battlefield farther up ahead. Jaune weaved to the right, avoiding a sword strike and drove both of his blades into the attackers stomach. He withdrew his weapons and pushed the dying man and took hold of his firearm. He twisted the weapon out of his weak grasp and fired at the the sniper perched on the roof top of the remains of a barracks. He fired three rounds with natural accuracy and added assistance of his targeting system built into his HUD. The sniper cried out and fell off the rooftop and hit the floor with a sickening crunch of breaking bones.

Jaune proceeded to move forward. He dropped the magnum carelessly to the ground and sheathed his Hf daggers. Jaune halted in his steps when his VI valor flashed warning signals in the corner of his screen. Surprised The cyborg leaped to the side as the buildings wall exploded outward. Metal shrapnel and concrete covering the area. A Tank rolled through along with a platoon of friendly soldiers. 2 men piled out and moved to cover to cover. A familiar red cloaked figure jumped through with her weapon in it's great-sword form. Ruby spotted the black coated individual standing just out of the radius of the blast. "Jaune! Are you alright! You aren't hurt are you?" She asked as she rushed over to him. Fretting over his well-being. Jaune grunted as she embraced him in a vice tightening grip. He cursed Nora for training her in strength work outs all those years ago.

"I am operational for further combat, Ruby." He bluntly replied while pushing her off lightly. He decided to get straight down to business "Whats the current situation?" He asked as he activated his Hardlight shield to keep them covered from any on coming fire. Ruby's face became hard and serious. She found a gap in the remains of a concrete wall. She placed her weapon in it's sniper mode and pulled back the bolt, loading in a fresh bullet in the chamber and began firing at the enemy father down the by the makeshift barriers.

"All of our forces have moved in and engaged enemy hostiles. We've pushed the White Fang back towards that complex over there in the middle of the stronghold. Luckily, we have suffered minimal casualties and have had no losses for our vehicles. The Fang are pulling back to make a last stand. We're just dealing with the stragglers and linking up with the rest of the attack force."

Jaune Listened closely as he protected them both with his shield, deflecting oncoming fire. The cyborg pulled out a grenade from his coat and ripped out the pin. He heaved it over towards the opposition. Ruby spotted the explosive device shot it in mid air once it passed the barrier. The grenade detonated and wiped out the group of faunus in an instant. Ruby swapped a mag and slammed in a new one. "And what about you, Jaune? What do you have to report?" She questioned, searching the rooftops for any snipers. The older Huntsmen found difficulty in responding. His chest tightened, his jaw clenched. "We lost over 71 Deadkillers in the assault. The remaining 89 are engaging with the main force, but will be emotionally and mentally wounded for the loss of there brothers and sisters." Jaune responded. Voice cold, counseling the pain and anger welling up inside of him.

Ruby froze. Her eyes went wide as she became dumbfounded by the shocking news. The Deadkillers were the most elite force they had. A single Deadkiller had the capability to fight the same level of a 2nd year huntsmen in training. They had more then enough skill and knowledge to combat both Grimm and other threats, such as the White Fang. Deadkillers were extremely hard to kill and that was a proven fact. Each member had been personally trained by both Ironwood and Jaune roughly 7 years ago during the fight against Salem. Each Deadkiller had their aura unlocked and had forged their own weapons personally.

To know that so many died in one night had made Ruby's heart crack just a little bit more. The young woman feared for Jaunes state of mind. She knew that he had a bond with his former students. To see so many gone and only a few remaining would weigh on the Broken Knight. Ruby shook her head and tried to support her best friend. "Jaune, i'm sorry. I honestly am sorry." She was looking at him. Silver eyes looking into the faceplate that covered his face. Jaune dropped his shield and brushed her off again. "It does not matter. They'll be remembered. They fought and died well." He began walking off. Ruby's eyes glowed brightly in anger. "Don't you walk away from me!" She snarled. The Knight held his stance and turned to face his companion. He frowned at her outburst.

Ruby glared at him. "Look me in the eyes, Without the faceplate. I want to look you in the eye and see if any of the old you is still in there. The Jaune i once knew would never just accept loss like that. I Know losing people changes you but god sake Your not the only one! I've loss people as well Jaune! People i loved, just like you! I still have nightmares of seeing what was left of you and Yang after Adam attacked. You are not the only one suffering." Ruby shouted in outburst. Whispering the last sentence with emotion beginning to flood her speech. Jaune stood silent. His body stiff and still he retracted the Facepate and exposed his face to the world.

Ruby looked into his eyes. Blue eyes that portrayed nothing but emptiness in them. his face was calm and emotionless but there was signs of a frown showing on lip and bottom metal jaw.

She sighed sadly. And glanced at him depressed. "You really are gone, Aren't you?" She spoke softly. Her hood covering her eyes. Jaune closed the Faceplate back over again. "I died the day Adam burned me to death along with your sister. I will not stop until he is but a corpse laying at my feet." He declared. He motioned for Ruby to follow him. "hurry. The others are already beginning their assault on the complex." He called out.

* * *

Th lights flickered on and off, the power currents weakening quickly. The long hallways shook due the commotion outside the complex. Multiple White Fang individuals moved around in hurried paces. Each of the masked figures had a look of desperation in their movements. All of them running up and down to their stations. Every one of them held weapons firmly in their grasp. panicked voices were muttered and shared between one another. A group of White Fang soldiers were shoved out of the way roughly by a towering figure as he moved past them. The large man walked down the corridor and turned around the corner. He hastily approached the locked door infront of him. The tall faunus walked up to the ID touch pad on the wall. He raised one of his tattooed arms and placed his palm on the scanner. The door opened with a hiss and shut behind him as he walked in. The full face masked fanunus spoke with a deep voice as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Sir, the humans and those traitors that have joined them have past the defenses. The enemy air support has taken out all of our outer turrets and soldiers posted outside. Their forces will no doubt have the building surrounded and are attempting to breach through the main entrance."

The male across from him stood with his back facing the Faunus Lieutenant. He Had both hands clasped tightly behind his back. He donned a jet black set of pants and combat jacket that had tight long sleeves that allowed for easy movement. The front of the jacket folded over it'self similar to a robe design. There was a neck high collar that bent downwards slightly at the ends. On the back of the Jacket held a red rose emblem. Taking up the whole back of the jacket.

A single black gauntlet on the males right hand was a black brace that connected to a set of Claws on each finger. A simple black leather glove is all that covered the left hand. the figure turned his head to the left slightly, Showcasing the tips of Bright blood red hair and his animalistic Bull horns sticking out as more noticeable features of his appearance. "Is Project 'Salvation ready and prepped, Banesaw?" He spoke finally. He voice smooth but harsh.

Banesaw nodded. "Yes sir. The machine is prepped for use whenever you're ready. The others that you have picked are waiting you down in the facility below us."

The other male dipped his head lightly in acknowledgment. It was then he finally turned to face his fellow faunus. A Grimm wolf mask was surgically attached to the upper half of his face. The Eyes of the mask glowed a deathly red light in each optic. His mouth was set in a straight line as he responded to Banesaw.

"Good. Then let us make haste. Time is not our ally until we make it into the past it'self." He said while grabbing Wilt and Blush from the desk next to him. Banesaw Then moved with the Bull faunus next to him towards the exit of the office. "As you wish, Adam."

* * *

 _ **Boom! Holy mother of GOD! I did it! I fucking did it! i actually fucking survived through writing this...this bastard of a chapter. I still can't believe it. This has made the past three days of my life a living hell. I feel like a zombie right now. I have a bitch of a headache to boot because of this little shit that refused to save when i was halfway through writing the chapter. Anyway, The beginning of the next chapter will be the one you guys have been waiting for am it right? When Jaune finally travels back in time to Protect the little Rose. I hope you all enjoyed this because this chapter was an asshole to finish.**_


	5. Chapter 3

_**Hey guys. sorry for the late update. i've been busy with matters like work for my job. It takes up the majority of my time and i'm usually too tired to write. But anyway, with what time I've had to my'self I have finally managed to shove this out the window for you all. I hope you all enjoy the chapter. :)**_

 _ **P.S: I will go back and fix any spelling errors as soon as I can within a few days after I upload. Cheers.**_

* * *

"Push them back! The little shits are hiding behind that door! Blow the thing down!"

A middle aged Major radioed from his position over looking the battlefield. A response from the Tank commander relayed back his response. " _Copy that, Major Grey. Regrouping tank squads 3 and 5 for bombardment. Danger close."_

Major Grey bent down and crouched behind a pile of rubble. His teeth chattering due to the storm but his eyes hard. Water dripped down his helmet in streams but did little to hinder his sight.

He made a hand gesture to the soldiers behind him to search for cover. They did so and barked out the order to the others around them. Grey reached and pressed on the earpiece. "Understood Tank commander. Danger close it is. Fire at will." The marine confirming the strike order. The voice on the other end of the comm line spoke up over the static. " _Roger that, firing for effect. Firing Heavy rounds."_

The 500 plus men and woman engaging the faunus at the complex entrance all went behind something solid and sturdy. All of them crouched and covered their ears, waiting for the inevitable.

12 tanks positioned their cannons to the given co-ordinances from the Major. Each tank loaded in their NW52 Heavy rounds. These tank shells consisted of armor piercing, dust infused, nuclear rapture shockwave rounds. Invented and designed by Huntress Nora Valkyrie and funded and manufactured by Weiss Schnee, During the 3rd year of the war.

These devastating shells had an explosive radius of 80 meters in each direction. Anything within that 80 meter area would be reduced to ash or rubble. They had the capability of piecing the walls of three 10 story buildings before they detonated. The shock waves afterwards were just as dangerous. The shockwaves carried enough force to shatter or bend even the hardest of metals such as dust coated titanium from a distance.

The difficultly of combining electric and fire dust with nuclear materiel, made creating the Heavy shells very difficult and extremely dangerous.

Thus they were rare in development back before the collapse in civilization. They were in low supply for the attack unfortunately, only one shell per Tank. They were only ever used in emergency's or extremely high priority missions. Which in this case, it was both.

At once, all Tanks fired their cannons on the huge titanium door. An enormous white Flash and ear piercing ringing was all that the attacking force could see or hear. The explosion could be seen from the outskirts of the desert where the military Base Camp was. The wounded watched with wide eyes at the sight. It took a full three minutes for the blinding light of the explosion to die down. The deafening sound took even longer to fade from each and everyone's eardrums. Soldiers cried out, cupping their ears and covering their eyes in pain.

Others weren't so lucky.

One of the marines was too close to the blast. He was screaming in agony and shock. His charred uniform was ripped and burnt from the blast. He clutched the remains of his left leg. It was missing from the knee joint down, completely incinerated. His blackened hands held the stump, soon passing out due to the shock.

A few others, who took cover under one of the smaller structures died as it collapsed on top of them. pieces of their corpses sticking out of the debris. A female marine cried out and screamed as she held her hands over her face. Both of her eyelids had been burnt and seared shut. Forever blinding her.

Grey groaned as he lay on the dirt behind what was left of his makeshift barrier. He winched and grunted as he clutched his chest. The sharp stinging against his rips made him hiss. _'Shit. At least 3 of my rips a broken. For fuck sake.'_ He raised his hand and gripped onto the barrier and slowly pulled himself up. Using the barrier as a support. He stumbled forward before regaining his balance. He coughed violently as he tried to regain his breath. "I'm getting to old for this shit."

He mumbled to himself frowning as he bent over and picked up his carbine. He snapped his head towards the direction of screaming and moaning. He soon spotted the numerous wounded marines scattered around the outside of the makes shift barriers. He twisted his body around and looked back at the recovering soldiers, quickly shaking off the effects of the blast and beginning to advance. Grey cupped a palm around his mouth and yelled. "We Got wounded! However is a medic, or even has medical training, get your ass over to them and do what you can. Evac them to base. I want no man left behind. The rest of you, On me!" He Shouted out while raising his weapon in the air to motivate he men. To give them courage.

The cheers of his men filled him with pride. They all charged forward to the now open entrance of the stronghold. Whatever resistance they had behind the door was completely incinerated.

All there was, was only melted and blackened metal and shrapnel. The lights of the hall sparked and flickered as the path to enter the building was now exposed. Grey took a moment to see if the wounded were being tended to. He saw his soldiers treating their fellow brethren, doing all they can to ease their pain and prepping them for transport for the incoming Bullheads. He nodded to himself and followed the rest of his men into the breached building. He pressed his index finger against his earpiece.

"This is Major Grey. The strike was successful. Moving in now." He reported. He loaded in a new clip into the carbine and pulling back the bolt. _'Roger that, Major. We'll be on stand by to clean up any stragglers. Tank Commander Eric out."_ Was the notification.

The old solider grunted in response. He caught up with the others as they stormed the halls. Wiping out the White fang defenders room by room. Floor by floor. There It was only a matter of time before they where overwhelmed. And They knew it.

* * *

 _ **(Outside the main entrance: 13 minutes later...)**_

Ruby and Jaune proceeded towards the main structure at a rapid pace. The other soldiers doing their best to keep up with the Huntress and Huntsmen as they trailed far behind them. The young rose had activated her semblance to avoid wasting valuable time. The had Arc agreed and easily kept pace with his longest friend as they speed across the battlefield. It was obvious that the battle was becoming extremely one sided. The remains of the White Fang units being wiped out by the dozens due to the sheer overwhelming numbers of Ruby's soldiers.

A few men would glance from cover to see a red stream of rose peddles moving at a intense speed along beside a dark shadow with black and gold trailing behind it.

Ruby breathed low and evenly. Driving her focus onto her destination. In the corner of her eye she could see the progress that her men had made during the siege. Slowly but surely, humanity was beginning to triumph.

She had smiled at that. The corners of her lips turning upward. After 10 years, 10 long years they were _**winning**_ this war.

But, the smile was gone as a frown quickly took over as she berated herself mentally. She had almost allowed her self to become too hopeful. Ruby had long ago accepted that hope could only carry you so far, before you would be forced to face the cold surface of reality. That the real world was cruel and unfair.

In order to win against your adversary, you'd have to understand that if you were to survive. if not, then those who didn't usually don't live long in this world. The long years of losing everything she cared about had made her desperate. Desperate enough to make a full on assault on the last remaining stronghold of the White Fang. Desperate enough to risk the lives of 2000 men and woman to finish a war that had torn the world apart.

Desperate enough to go and attack Adam Taurus directly. The man that she had underestimated. The man that was responsible for killing Blake, Yang, and in a way, Jaune.

As the two approached the front of the main structure, Both Huntsmen slowed down to a stop. She and Jaune glanced around and saw Bullhead dropships landed outside. Medics loading the wounded into the ships with care. The reaper looked around and spotted the highest ranking soldier that she could see. She walked over to a man that seemed be in his early 30's, tending to a injured soldier on a stretcher. She spotted his rank emblem on his vest and identified him as Corporal Luis Dennis of the 7th claw company from the 520 seekers. Under command of Major Heath Grey.

"Corporal Dennis, where is Major Grey?" Ruby said evenly. The medic wiped a bloodied rag over his forehead and looked towards his leader with tired eyes. "The Major has moved in with rest of the men and are currently storming the White Fang's last line of defense.

I'm in charge of getting the wounded back to HQ." He said while wrapping a cotton bandage around his patient tightly. The cloaked huntress nodded. "Understood. Radio for more men to advance on this location. We may need reinforcements. Adam is not one to underestimate. Even when near defeated." Stated Ruby as she turned away, the remains of her cloak blowing in the wind. The medic shot her a thumbs up as she moved to the open entrance of the building.

She stopped her trek and glanced blankly down into the ruined hallway. Her current thoughts and past decisions clouding her mind. filling her with doubt. She barely registered Jaune's presence as he stepped in line beside her.

"Are you alright?"

Ruby blinked several times. She quickly turned her head to the right and saw the Cyborg beside her. She looked at him dumbly. "Um, Sorry?" She asked. Blushing a tinge of pink under her hood. The blonde Knight repeated himself, not bothered. "You were distracted. Are you alright?" He asked her.

Ruby turned her head away from him. She dipped her head and slumped her shoulders. "Nothing. Just now beginning to question past decisions and mistakes I've made. Don't worry about it, Jaune." She tried to dismiss by walking into the destroyed hall. After taking a few steps forward, she noticed that her companion had not moved with her. She stopped and turned to face him with slight confusion. her eyebrow raised.

He stood there and returned her gaze. Jaune tilted his head in a questioning manner. She couldn't tell what his facial expression was though due to the faceplate. "Ruby, why doubt yourself now of all times? you have got us this far. It's up to you to take that first step. We end this tonight. One way or another."

He said with conviction. Repeating the words of a wise man they both knew. Traits of multiple emotions were in his voice as he spoke. She refused to meet his gaze. "And what have we lost to get to where we are now, Jaune?" She whispered. Jaune stiffened, he knew full well at what she was meaning. His body tensed at the words. His eyes hardened as he processed what she said.

"We have all made sacrifices. Some of us just don't have that curtsy to choose when and how." He said. He walked up to the emotional rose and laid a servo on her shoulder gently. "Let's go. We need to finish this now. Just keep moving forward." Ruby slowly glanced up and looked into Jaunes faceplate. She gave a shuddering breath and sniffed. before speaking. "Alright. Lets do this."

Jaune stepped back and dipped his head in acknowledgment. He motioned for her lead. She moved ahead and took a fighting stance. She unclasped crescent Rose from her lower back and unfolded and split it into two separate hand held scythes in each one. She Flipped the weapons in her hand before gripping them both tightly. Jaune followed suit and drew both of his High frequency blades, Vanguard and Sentinel. The blades heated edges casting a faint glow in the dim light of the area. Both he and Ruby then made their way further into the complex. Moving quickly to catch up with Grey and the others.

* * *

 _ **(Deep within the complex...)**_

Jaune was on edge. It didn't take a genius to figure out that some situations required you to be nervous. But being so close to Adam was making his blood boil, even if it was synthetic.

It made it hard to think without lashing out in anger. But he was no fool. To give in to such emotions would possibly compromise the mission and place both him and Ruby in danger. He had to keep himself in check. He rolled his armored shoulders to ease his stress.

He constantly checked his radar for enemy movement. Red blimps were scattered throughout multiple rooms throughout the building. Both Ruby and Jaune entered what looked like a staging area for supplies. Crates and dismantled vehicles littered the area around them in scattered groups. The place was a massed mess. Crimson stained the floors and walls in a art of bloody gore.

Bodies dotted all over the ground. Some in piles. There wasn't a spot in the place that wasn't marked with gashes or bullet holes in it. Ruby winched at the massacre.

"Grey has been through here alright." Ruby spoke, stepping over the faunus corpses with caution. The Knight mirrored her movements at a faster pace. "Then we must make haste. Major grey may be a former Deadkiller, but he and the others are not capable of combating Adam or his high ranking lieutenants directly." He warned as he took the lead of the two. They passed the next doorway with extra caution.

Tracking Grey was not that difficult in Jaunes opinion. All they had to do was follow the trail of bodies to tell were they needed to go. The cyborg came to a halt and motioned Ruby to do the same. He bent his knees and readied himself as he fell into a stance.

"What is it?" Asked the Ruby as she raised her duel scythes and narrowed her eyes. The blonde Cyborg turned his head to the side to answer. "I'm picking up movement all around us. Must be surviving units left during the firefight with Grey's Seekers." He studied the radar on his HUD sharply. Watching the Red blimps moving around to surround the two Hunters.

"How many?" Asked the reaper bluntly. Her silver eyes glowing in the dim lighting. In the corner of her vision she could see Jaune giving a sadistic grin as he responded coldly.

"Not enough to stop us."

In an instant, White Grimm masked figures burst through the doors of closed rooms as others swarmed around the corners of the hallways. Some even dropped down out of air vents.

They all carelessly charged the two in a desperate attempt to kill them on the spot. Unaware of whom that they had attacked.

As soon as the first handfull even got within 5 feet of the female hunter she lunged forward and lashed out in a fury of pin point accurate strikes and attacks. She threw out her left arm and hooked her scythe around an opponents weapon. She swung herself upwards, planting both boots on the face of another Fang fledgling while disarming the other at the same time. Ruby then back flipped off of him and cut the Faunus from the stomach upward past the jaw While slicing the throat of the one she disarmed as she spun in the air. Before her feet even connected with solid ground she kicked the dead bodies into the others behind them. She landed with nimble ease. She huffed out a short breath before charging them again. spinning her scythes in a deadly grace.

While Ruby had been engaged in combat, Jaune remained where he stood, not moving in an inch. His arms falling limp at his sides but his grip on his weapons firm. Those that had surrounded the black figure had saw this and became weary and hesitant of his intentions in attack methods.

Regardless, they all drew there swords and macs and went in to attack. None of them noticed the smirk on the Huntsmen's mouth.

The first attacker carried a two handed great sword and swung it in a wide arc. Aiming for the cyborgs neckline. From the Knights side, Another Fang member went to drive a dust coated knife into the left side of his stomach. Behind him, one moved in to throw a downwards strike with his mac onto the blondes back.

As all three faunus were about connect their strikes, the Dark Knight moved. Using his large aura reserves to enhance his strength and speed, He blocked the mace to his left with Vanguard by twisting the blade downward while he maneuvered out of the oncoming attack of the Great Sword. He moved forward and back-kicked the opponent behind him into the steel wall.

The impact of the kick killing the Faunus as his chest caved in on it's self. Jaune then twisted around behind the mace wielder as the user of the Great Sword attempted to kill the Cyborg. He unintentionally ended up slashing the throat of his comrade as Jaune used him as a meat shield. Shocked from his action he froze. The Arc shoved the dying Fang member to the side and slammed his head against his last opponent. the force of the head butt shattered the faunus's Grimm mask into pieces.

The terrorist cried out in pain as the hard metal of the faceplate smashed against him. shards of the white mask piercing the flesh of his face. In a blind fit of rage he once again swung his sword at Jaune. He raised the blade upwards and drove it down as hard as he could.

Jaune brought up Sentinel and slashed the long black dagger across the sword, cutting through the metal like butter causing the sword to split in two whilst also slicing the head off of the sword user from the jaw up. The body collapsed to the ground in a bloody heap along with the rest of the dead. The crimson flowing out onto the cold floor.

After checking the radar to see if Ruby had taken care of the others, He relaxed his composure and glance over his shoulder to see Ruby flicking the blood off of her weapons. He studied the grim expression on her face from under her hood as she approached him. She noticed the barbaric kills he had committed but did not question him about it, knowing arguing was pointless.

Jaune saw the look of displeasure she sent his way. He knew that Ruby never liked to take lives. She hated it. loathed it more then anything. Jaune was more accustomed to this kind of profession and welcomed it after few years when the war was at it's worst. The difference of opinions between the two companions in regards to taking lives was what also put a strain on their _'already'_ fragile friendship. They'd often argue for hours over the subject to the point where they'd come close to blows. Ruby then eventually came to accept that her closest friend had changed.

"The area should be clear until we reach the lower levels. The Major was efficiently thorough in his...advancement." He said while glancing down the hallway to the elevator lift at the end of the hall. The Rose reconnected her scythe together and formed her lethal bladed bo-staff. She spun the weapon around her body to adjust to the change in weaponry. "Can we use short rang COMM's to reach him?

She questioned, her sliver eyes watching the Knights movements as he walked over to the lift further down from them. The cyborg answered her quickly. "No. Valor Has detected enemy scramblers placed in multiple areas around the complex. We need to hurry. I fear that the old soldier has encountered the first of Adam's lieutenants." He then quickened his pace and speed over to the closed lift doors. He slipped the tips of his clawed servos in the gap of the doors and effortlessly shoved them to the sides. The metal grinding against metal caused sparks to fly up. Jaune peered down the elevator shaft. Ruby walked up beside the Knight and looked at the bottomless pit shrouded in darkness. The rose whistled to her self in amazement.

"That's...a really long way down." She said bluntly. Her sliver eyes wide, feeling a little dumbfounded at how deep the base was underground.

"60 floors beneath the surface to be exact." Her companion stated as if a matter of fact. The Arc crouched down and examined the shaft. "Grey would of blown the lift to prevent any of the surviving members of the Fang coming down to flank him and his Seekers from his rare. He would of only resorted to doing that if he had discovered another way to return to the surface." Jaune relaid to the red reaper. She nodded and frowned. She cupped her chin in thought.

"That could cause problems for our troops outside. They can't get down to assist if the only way down is unusable to them. It would take to long for us to find the alternate path that Grey intends to use."

Jaune agreed with her.

"I Know. That means that we are the only ones that can assist until the other route is discovered. We will have to jump down to the lowest floor. The last of the White Fang will most likely be stationed there, most likely already in a firefight with the seekers." He then stood up and looked at Ruby. "Can your aura levels withstand the fall?" He asked with concern.

Ruby shook her head as she answered. "The fall would completely drain the majority of my aura reserves. I can survive the jump, But that would mean my abilities in combat will be limited to the bare minimum." She said while shifting her feet around uncomfortably. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt the cold grip of Jaunes servo clasping her small shoulder. She looked at his faceplate questionably. Unsure as to what his motivation is.

"Stay still. I'll channel some of my aura into yours to create a protective layer, of sorts. It'll absorb the damage you take for a brief amount of time until it wears off." He explained. No sooner after the outline of his body ignited with his Aura. Ruby's followed suit as her own red aura glowed while she closed her eyes. She felt the transition of energy within her body. The experience was odd. To put it mildly. The young Reaper scrunched her face in discomfort. The weird sensation was causing her senses to play up. She only briefly heard Jaune speak due to her distractions.

"It's finished. You should be able to absorb any damage from the landing." He then removed his servo from her and grabbed his weapons. Ruby blinked several times as she readjusted her bearings. Jaune strolled to the edge of the shaft. "I'll see you down there." He called out before he stepped forward and dropped down the lift shaft.

Ruby grumbled and groaned in despair. "ughhhhhh...I hate heights." She complained. She hesitantly walked forward and glanced down. She flinched when she heard a something impact with the ground hard. Most likely caused by Jaune. She could of just made this a whole lot easier on herself and just used crescent rose in it's scythe form and used the sniper mod to slow her decent. but, she had used all of her ammo during the siege.

the rose threw all caution to the wind and jumped. Resisting the urge to scream the whole way down.

* * *

 _ **(with jaune...)**_

The Dark Knight's coat flapped wildly in the wind. his drop to the ground growing closer by the second. he used his arms to balance his fall and enhanced his aura to absorb the impact that he was quickly going to make. He briefly saw the elevator lift siting jammed at the bottom floor. bracing himself, the Arc crashed through the steel roof of the lift and rendered the floor of the large metal box beyond repair, not that it really mattered. The blonde Knight landed in a kneeling position. He rose and stood up and quickly made way for the oncoming rose. he climbed out od the lift and made his way onto the hall. With his enhanced hearing, He could hear the panicked Ruby rose falling. There was a slight thump and a bang when she landed. The devastation and the sheer volume nowhere near comparing his own. She grunted as she sluggishly climbed out to his position. He couldn't help but grin in humour at seeing his friend like that. He shook off the feeling and bent over and lent her his servo. She gratefully grasped the metallic hand and he pulled her to her feet. He used his HUD and checked her for any injuries. There was none. Though for the sake of being civil he asked her about her well being regardless.

"You good?"

Ruby rolled her left shoulder before unclasping crescent rose once again and unfolded it into it's bo-staff form. "yeah. Just a little jittery is all." She waved him off lightly.

Jaune was about to comment when Gunfire and explosions caused him to snap his head to the side. He had his full attention focused on the transition of bullets flying back and forth at a centre section slightly further down from him and Ruby. They both ran forward to investigate the situation. As they neared, three RPG rockets fired down the opposite hall and detonated. Wiping out whatever forces that were currently there. One of the survivors tried escaping down the hallway unaware of Ruby and Jaune. The figure was quickly identified as a White fang member.

He let out a startled gasp as Jaune grabbed him from around the corner by the throat. He snapped the masked figures neck and breaching his aura in a singe move. Jaune dropped the corpse carelessly and moved slowly out to see the carnage, Ruby along side him. The were both met by the loading of fire arms and melee weapons pointed In their direction. The masses of men and woman focused on the two figures. Both Ruby and Jaune noticed that the uniformed soldiers were from the 520 seekers. Ruby moved forward to inform them of their identification but was halted at the shouting of an aged soldier. "Hold Fire! Friendlies! Lower your weapons. That is Commander Rose and Huntsmen Arc!"

Instantly the seekers responded to the order and lowered there weapons. They stepped to the sides of the hall and revealed the commanding officer of the seekers.

The old soldier walked towards the Cyborg and the rose. His hand snapped into a formal salute. I apologizes for that ma'am, Sir," He said respectfully. "I didn't expect the assistance from you two so quickly." He said, Holding his carbine against his armoured chest.

Ruby gave a light smile and responded. "We came as soon as we could, Major Grey. Though it will take longer for reinforcements to arrive. We're on our own for now."

Grey cracked his neck and sighed. "Understood ma'am. What's the situation up top?" He asked. Reloading a new dust round magazine into his carbine.

"transport vehicles are dropping off fresh units and loading on the wounded, same with the drop ships. The Tank squads are doing perimeter sweeps to watch for any escaping enemies or Grimm that might be attracted to the battle." Ruby told him as she rested crescent rose on her shoulder. The old solider nodded and turned his attention to Jaune.

"What about the deadkillers?"

Jaune twisted the daggers around in his servos before relying. "I've sent them out to run perimeter checks with the tank squads and to tend to the wounded. Deadkillers are the closest things we have to huntsmen and are best suited to defend if Grimm were to attack us now." Once again, Grey nodded.

"Right. Well I've sent the seekers to spread out in groups of 40/50 men. I'm well aware that the leader of the White fang is down here so I wasn't taking any chances. We have been clearing multiple rooms around this floor In different areas in order to box Adam in with no escape. That's the reason why we blew down all of the lifts to trap him." Grey relayed to the two. Ruby cupped her chin in interest. "good strategy. Do you have his location?"

"Yes, but we are waiting for the rest of my men to regroup. They should be here momentarily. Adam's got at least 120 men left guarding him. More then a few of them will be his best fighters. It'll be one hell of a fight, that's for sure." Grey said while glancing at his men. He sighed and turned back to face them. "They've all fallen back to that last room further back a few halls down. We just killed the last of the stragglers. "we'll move in on your order, Commander Rose. Until then i'll be preparing my men for the last charge."

And with that, he walked off towards his soldiers. giving them a debrief. Ruby couldn't help but glance at her friend. Jaune was being unusually quiet. "What is it Jaune?" She said while facing him. He remained still for a brief time. she was mildly surprised when he suddenly retracted his Faceplate. Revelling his face to her. The unnatural pale skin of his face always intimidated her. His cold blue eyes met with her silver. messy blonde locks fell down the sides and back of his head. His black metallic jaw clenched tightly. He had a frown on his face before he spoke.

"It doesn't make sense." He said plainly. A little confused, Ruby inquisitively asked him "What are you talking about Jaune?"

Silent for a moment, He glanced in the direction of the halls that lead to The fangs last hold out point. "Why would Adam want to retreat underground when he knows that he'd end up being cornered and surrounded? I know how he thinks. He's smart. He wouldn't make a mistake like that. He could of taken or stolen a Bullhead and escaped during the attack when we were both preoccupied. Like I said, It doesn't make any sense." He explained. His figure on edge, more so then before.

Now that she thought about it, it was rather suspicious as to why Adam would make such a faulty decision. Something wasn't right. Ruby was now frowning as well. "We'll need to be on our guard then." She then took a glance at all of the soldiers gathering together. "All of us." She finished.

* * *

 _ **(moments before attack)**_

"The charges are set on the door. They're ready to blow on your go, Ma'am." Spoke Grey and he was hunched over, hiding behind the corner of the hall and using it as cover. The other seeker squads had done the same with the other entrances. All ready to storm the area on a moments notice. Ruby was hold her weapon in scythe form, Jaune beside her with his blades drawn and his faceplate covering his face with his HUD activated.

"Blow it, Major." Ruby commanded. Grey nodded and clicked down on the detonator. The entrances on all sides exploded inward with a earth shattering explosion. Smoke filled the doorways but the hundreds of seeker forces charged forward regardless. Gunfire erupted in a hellish blast as the defenders attempted to repel the seekers. Jaune speed forward in front of the others around him. He activated his hardlight shield and took a stance. He shouted out. "Seekers! Single file line! Behind me!" He called out.

Ruby was first to follow, along with Grey with 50 seekers behind him. Jaune lead the charge into the lab like area. Bullets were easily deflected off of his shield as he sprinted in. Soon the other seekers started to pile in and managed to gain a foothold. Lines of men and woman gathered together and started to rain hell down on the White fang members. Jaune deactivated his shield and charged in. Slashing his targets left right, and centre. showing no mercy. He spun on his heels and evaded an incoming strike and planted his blade into a enemy's spine and shoved him off. He ran up and kneed another opponent in the bottom jaw, shattering his skull. Then he elbowed a masked figure to his right side and slashed his throat before moving off to the next opponent. Ruby was surrounded, giving her full use of her scythe without harming her allies. Spinning the huge blade in deadly ease. Grey sat back and laid covering fire for his men and dropping targets like flies.

The battle had quickly turned to melee combat, the two sides too close to risk shooting without hitting their own men. Blood began staining the floor in rivers. sparks from ruined lights did little to help with visibility.

Jaune found himself fighting his way up a ramp that lead up to a second platform. He kicked an enemy fighter off of the edge. It was pure instinct that caused him to turn and roll out of the way, narrowly evading a high impact sniper shot that blew a fist sized hole through the metal ramp-way. Jaune spun around to identify the shooter. He glanced up to the railing of the top floor and his eyes widened. Barley contained rage began to spark up as he spotted the figure. Glaring back at Jaune was Adam Taurus. There he stood, his red katana blade drawn and begging to spill blood. The red optics of the white wolf mask bearing into his black Faceplate.

Jaune was seething now. He snarled at his adversary and prepared himself. Adam leaned over the railing, his lips in a thin line. "I never got to repay you for what you did to my face, **_Arc_."**

He spoke calmly, shadowing his hatred for the human cyborg.

Jaune snorted. "Oh yeah? I think it's an improvement. You should be thanking me." He mocked, taunting him. Adams grip on his sheath and blade tightened. "You have no idea of what I am capable of, Human. Not even the slightest clue." He spat.

"How many times have you underestimated me, Adam? Look at what has become of your vision for the future of all Faunus kind. Don't you see? You have lost the very war that _**you**_ started." Jaune retorted. The Bull faunus looked behind him before he glanced back down to Jaune.

"We'll see about that. But, It appears it is time to take my leave. fair well, Arc." He spoke before he turned and walked away. Jaune shouted out in rage at his retreating form.

"Don't you fucking run away from me you coward!" He yelled as he sprinted up the ramp. Only to be blocked off by a man sized chainsaw being swung in his direction. Jaune flipped out of the way. cursing to himself. He landed heavily and deflected the second strike of the chainsaw welder with Sentinel. The HF blade hissing against the moving teeth of the huge chainsaw. Jaune went to deliver a swift kick to his attacker in order to gain some distance. The huge tattooed faunus reacted quickly and grabbed his leg and threw him out to the side of the platform. Jaunes quick reflexes allowed him to flip in the air and land on his feet once more. He studied his opponent and glared at him warily. ' _Banesaw, Adams right hand man. I should of known that he'd be close by.'_ Bitterly thought the Dark Knight before crossing his blades and reverted back to his preferred fighting stance. The towering man that was Banesaw chuckled to himself before twisting his weapon around his wrist and revving the engine.

"You're not as fast as you think, even for being mostly machine." He challenged. Jaune hardly cared for his petty insults. In the blink of an eye, moving at the speed of a bullet, He lunged forward and attacked in an attempt to through the hulking figure off. Banesaw's reaction time allowed him to lift his huge weapon up and parry the constant multitude of strikes from the Huntsmen. moving the chainsaw around to block the incoming daggers.

Jaune was relentless. One of the perks of being a cyborg was having almost limitless amounts of stamina. A good advantage against usual heavy hitters. His V.I had updated his HUD and notified the Huntsmen of Banesaw's decrees in Aura levels. ' _He must be using his bare Aura to absorb my attacks. His Aura is dropping fast. Good.'_ Jaune ducked down from the chain blade swinging overhead. he dive-rolled to the side and slashed Vanguard across his opponents thigh.

The move was enough to completely deplete Banesaws Aura, but did do enough to put a serous wound on his leg. Jaune brought up his blades and crossed them over as he blocked an overhand strike from the wolf Faunus. Their weapons clashed. The grinding of metal against metal screeched loudly to the point of being almost defining. With no aura, Banesaw was now only relying on just his brute strength and his size to compete against the smaller of the males. His teeth were grinding together. He grunted as he struggled to overpower the Dark Knight.

Jaune held steady. Slowly, but surely he was causing his enemy's strength to wither. The cyborg then chose the moment to finish the fight. He pushed forward and ripped the chain blade in half, similar to what he did to earlier on. The HF blades rendering the weapon useless. Banesaw gasped in surprise. "What! how-" He spluttered out in disbelief. Jaune didn't allow him to finish speaking as he slammed his heel into his chest. The impact sending him through the railing and off of the platform and landing below on the main floor.

Jaune twisted around and continued his chase after Adam. He spotted him standing in a conduit like pad above a circular stairwell. Multiple devices and many wires were linked up to the pad like a single grid. Machines hummed to life as blue electricity sparked in a frenzy. 6 other figures stood behind him. all masked with unique Grimm masks and clothed in various outfits and armour. Not like the normal outfits the White fang troops have.

Jaune then exploaded in a rush of speed, Semblance also activated. Black, outlined with neon blue covered his whole body as he closed the distance between him and Adam. He opened his mouth in a yell as holstered his blades and activated his energy sword. The ball faunus turned his masked face over to glance at his long time enemy, and smirked. He didn't even move to draw is blade. He stood there with a relaxed posture as electric blue sparks surrounded him and his lieutenants.

Jaune jumped high through the air, sailing towards the groups of faunus. He drew back his sword, and lunged it forward in a stabbing motion. The blue blade was mere centimetres from Adams face before his figure and the others around them erupted in a bright light and vanished from the world in a ball of electricity.

* * *

 _ **Andddddddddd...That's that! Jaune is officially going to be in the past in the next chapter. the end of this one might of been a little rushed, so I'm sorry for that. I've already got the draft for the next chapter all written up. When I get the time i'll be publishing it on the laptop. Anyway, sorry for the delays.**_

 _ **I hope that you all enjoyed this so far. I want to take my time and expand this story to the max. With Volume 4 out, I've had to make a few changes here and there for later chapters. So, with that outta the way, have a nice night/day and goodbye. :)**_


	6. Chapter 4

_**Soooooooo, Hey? Whats up? Hows it going? (nervously laughs and rubs his head. winches at the date when the last chapter was uploaded.)**_

 _ **Okay...yup! You all have my most heart felt apologies. I do not have much to say apart from the fact that the computer broke down. Again. I have not lost any motivation for this story! I can assure you all! I am so very exited to get back to writing/typing again, my god it's been ages. I might be a little rusty so don't hate me too much hahaha.**_

 _ **I am however a little torn between where and how im going to send Jaune in this chapter. I have written a few drafts on paper during my spare time. And I cant decide what one I should post. there was One Draft copy where Jaune Takes six members ranging from Deadkillers to Seekers with him to hunt down Adam and protect Ruby. But i'll keep that one on the archive for now. I want you guys to let me know if what i got now is better suited for the story. Once i get this uploaded i'll come back and do a spell check if there are too many faults.**_

 _ **Note: I may have made the paragraphs longer then necessary. Give me a message if you guys find reading my work difficult. thanks everyone :)**_

* * *

Victory was theirs. A simple, small amount of three words in total had assured the final conclusion of a 10 year struggle for mere survival in a world that was as dark and vile as the Creatures of Grimm themselves. The ones who did survive from near extinction, showed that above all Humanity had rose as the victors from the conflict. After 10 years of nothing but war, that had changed most if not all of those that have survived and experienced as much as these veterans have. At the very beginning, before the collapse of civilization, Everybody had banded together in order to defend the world against a dark entity that threatened to destroy Remnant. Salem was clearly the biggest threat to both Man and Faunus kind in recorded history. After Salem's followers were tracked down and killed, It wasn't long before the lair of the mother of all Grimm was found and discovered. The Biggest military assault the wold had ever seen fought relentlessly to storm the lair located deep within the Grimm lands.

For the first time in history, the creatures of Grimm had been defeated. No longer able to reproduce or replenish their numbers. With the power of the 'Silver Eyes,' Ruby Rose had destroyed and eradicated the dark entity. But at the cost of her powers as well. The 12 month war was over almost as soon as it had begun. The final battle had ended with the casualties of 1,250,000 lives spreading from Civilians, soldiers and Huntsmen alike. the Majority of the death toll had been Faunus due to the destruction of menagerie nearing the end of the fight.

The world had just won against something that threatened to wipe out all life, and emerged victorious. People within the millions had celebrated, despite sustaining such a heavy loss to the population. Everyone from then on had believed that a new, true era of peace was about to become reality. One without hatred and mistreatment of the other race.

Nobody had anticipated what was about to happen. The wold of Remnant had, like so many times before, was once again thrown into complete and utter disarray. The false Maiden, Cinder Fall that was thought to be killed by Jaune Arc and Li Ren with the support of the Deadkiller's had returned. The former underling of Salem had emerged with an army of Bandits, convicts, murders and rouge Hunters and huntress's at her side. All united under her rule. For eight months she had gone under the radar and traveled from country to country gathering her forces. The bulk of her armies were supplied by None other then Adam Taurus. The White Fang's Numbers had expanded explosively due to the destruction of Menagerie. With nearly over half of the Faunus race joining and supporting the White Fang, Adam Now was in command of an army nearing a whole 3rd of the worlds population. Cinder and Adam had created an alliance. Combining their forces into a whole Nation wide invasion. Vacuo was the first Kingdom to fall. It's military completely wiped out. Shade Academy was burnt down to the ground over a night in a blase of fire with only 20% of the Hunters surviving and taking refuge in the Island of Patch just on the Boarder of Vale.

Cinder had then set up a fortress in the deserts of Vacuo while Adam moved to invade the Kingdom of Vale with a force of 50,000 strong. Beacon was once again destroyed in the attack as the White Fang proceeded towards the City itself. For two weeks they had laid siege, but could not breach the city's defense line. With the majority of Beacons most promising Hunters and Huntresses stationed there, the Kingdom had repealed the invasion, Causing Adam to withdraw his forces.

He then regrouped with Cinder and her army and created a combined attack on Mantle. The Kingdom that was considered the worlds strongest military super power was conquered within a week of the invasion. With Cinder focusing on detonating the Dust Mines that had littered all across The Continent. Due to the mass loss in Dust, Atlas had lost it's main recourse supply, and leaving the Kingdom close to being defenseless. Adam Had invaded the Capital city, and tore his way all the way up to the Family Schnee mansion. All but One of the family survived, .Weiss was evacuated back to Vale. The others were all slaughtered before they could escape the property. With the bulk of The Atlas fleet defending the Kingdom of Vale, Atlas it'self stood no chance. Though the remaining military units managed to hold their ground by building a stronghold far out in Grimm territory within the blizzards far from the city walls.

Mistral, For four long hard years, had finally fallen. Being the largest unexplored continent it held thousands of remaining Grimm that still wandered the wilderness. All were attracted to the war torn state and completely ravaged what was left of the grand Kingdom. Vale, Being the most defended and still in an abundance of resources had been the main center of operations for Haven Academy's remaining hunters along with the remains of the Atlas forces. While the other villages and other cites beyond Vales walls were completely leveled, the county's Capital city had remained mostly untouched from the war. With the number of Huntsmen decreasing over the years General Ironwood had initiated The Deadkiller program. Over 2000 candidates and only 250 passing the training requirements. Jaune Arc had been promoted to train and lead this force, only answering to Qrow Branwen and General Ironwood. They had Hunted and finally terminated Cinder Fall during the last days of the in Vale before the White Fang had taken the city. With Grimm closing in, and only enemies remaining inside the city walls, Qrow had sacrificed himself to wipe out Adam Taurus and his army all in one blow. The entire city was destroyed in a mass explosion that had taken the lives of Cinders whole invasion force, But the White Fang along with it's leader had survived.

during the final years of the conflict, it was no longer a war for order and peace. But only for the pure survival of the Human and Faunus race. With the wolds population now facing the brink of extinction, the remnants of humanity had all agreed that peace with Adam Taurus was not possible. And that the remains of his army would rather die fighting for him then creating a truce. It was then decided by Ruby Rose, the current leader of humanity's resistance, that the White Fang had to be wiped out in order to rebuild what the war had taken from them.

The day of victory had seemed so far and distant for the veterans of the 10 year war. Fighting only for survival was the only thought on their minds. Never had anybody anticipated that the day the War would draw to a close was even remotely possible to achieve.

Today was that day. Today marked the end of a 10 year struggle. But the Birth of a whole New conflict was about to begin. One that would rock the Whole of the world to it's core like so many times before.

* * *

Ruby had rarely had to fear the ones closest to her. If she were to make a 'friend,' Her judge of character in a person was usually accurate. Meaning, that Anybody that she created a bond with had a good personality and a kind heart. It was one of her most admirable traits that Ozpin admired about the young Rose. Ruby was exceptional at creating allies and friends almost instantaneously. It's how she was appointed to take the role that General Ironwood once held. Leading Humanity through the darkness of the world and taking them towards the light at the end of the road. At first she had refused the position. Claiming that she was not fit to take such a demanding burden. Before the last member of her team had passed away, Weiss Had told her that Humanity would not survive if she would not take her role. Stating that Only a huntsmen could lead. Ruby was the biggest inspiration to everyone. They had all looked to her. The Slayer of the Mother of all Grimm had proven her strength and leadership to the people.

Ruby accepted in the belief that she had the full support of her companions she now considered family. Weiss, Jaune, Sun, Velvet and Penny (after her reconstruction). By the 10th year of the war, All she had was the first person she had met in her days at Beacon Academy. The Man that she had bonded with almost as close as her sister Yang. Jaune Arc Had been the last surviving Huntsmen, aside from herself. He was the glue that held her together in these hard times. He was the part that connected her puzzle. She had lost everything and everyone she had came to care about. All she had left was Jaune.

But never Before had she ever thought that the day would come that she would end up fearing her most trusted friend and companion. After the loss of his team, his own family, his former lover Pyrrha and even his body, it had eventually twisted the former beloved knight into something dark. Something Hateful, merciless and devoid of compassion. Jaune had became a vessel of animistic rage.

Ruby has grown afraid of Jaune. She wouldn't dare speak the words aloud, for she saw the desperation in the Cyborgs cold calculating ocean eyes. She can tell that Jaune is begging for help, for someone to change him back to who he once was. As much as she wanted to bring back the man she once saw as an older brother, she had no idea how to do so. Jaunes thirst for revenge and his rage had grown far too strong.

He had only gotten worse as the years passed. Falling further and further from who he once was. She had to order her soldiers to restrain him after he had attempted to commit suicide shortly after he was made into a cyborg. Jaune now was mentally unstable. Only able to think straight when Ruby was with him, she being able to sate his killer instinct.

The red Reaper stood still upon the walkway. The soldiers of Humanity had positioned themselves inside the former White Fang stronghold. Clearing out the remaining members of the terrorist organization. Ruby had sent in the whole of her forces within the Base compound to strip the area for supplies and seizing any in-tell on Adams escape and his purpose. The Deadkillers had been appointed to take charge of the Grimm defense should they become attracted to the ruins of the stronghold. The Seekers were tasked clearing out the underground building system to eradicate any surviving enemies. The highest ranking members among the resistance had immobilized inside the room where Adam had escaped.

Ruby Rose and the other leaders had stood at attention while the squad leaders of each team had given their report on their finding on Adam Taurus's plans, given that he was able to retreat with six of his best lieutenants in tow. All members of the resistance leaders were accounted for. All except Jaune Arc. The Commander of the Deadkiller units.

Ruby was extremely concerned about Jaune's state of mind. After being so close to killing his tormentor, just to have him slip from his grasp, would most definitely not help his already emotionally wounded mind. After Adam's escape Jaune had flown berserk. Ripping and shredding down doors, walls, equipment and unfortunate survivors that Jaune ran into on his war path. They were nothing but a red stain on the floor. It had been hours since Jaune had stormed off and Ruby was worried that he would miss the debriefing. As much as she wanted to let Jaune vent out his anger, she doesn't want him to miss out on the debriefing from the fire-teams. As the commander of the Deadkillers he has a duty to fulfill as their leader.

She sighed internally. long outgrown strands of hair falling over her right eye. it's silver being covered from view. Her Armor was burnt, ripped and damaged in various areas. Making her feel slightly uncomfortable in her joints. Crescent rose was slung over her back. The remains of her red cloak hung over the back of her shoulders. She cupped her chin and tilted her head as she paid attention to the soldier briefing her and the other leaders.

"-We have no reports to state on our task, Commander Rose. The members of Black Company have stripped everything of valuable information. It appears that Adam had ordered his men to wipe everything on the database during the attack. He must of expected that we would eventually attack him."

A young soldier who appeared in his 20's had stood with both of his arms clasped firmly behind his back as he relayed his findings to his Commanders. The one in charge, Ruby Rose Nodded. She had heard enough. "That will be all, Warrant officer Miles. You and your Company are dismissed. Thank you."

Miles saluted firmly. "Understood Ma'am." He turned on his heel and walked back down the ramp below. One of the commanders sighed. Commander Taylor South was in charge of the civilian population and military police force.

He rubbed his eyes in annoyance. "This is getting us nowhere. Adam had clearly foresaw the attack and already had a contingency plan in motion. As long as he lives, Humanity will always be in danger."

The woman next to him, grunted to herself. Serah Giles, Commander of the bullhead squadrons spoke her mind. "I concur With you Commander South. But right now i suggest that we focus on tending to the wounded and the damage to our vehicles. We May have had victory over the war but the assault has now left us servery open to the Grimm, should they attack us in a large horde."

This had earned the experienced Veteran Commander approving nods and agreements from the other leaders. South however was not swayed.

"As much as I appreciate your support I must argue that executing Adam should, and must be a priority to all of Humanity. The risk of our species survival is too great to allow a man as vile as him to walk Remnant."

The last Commander Mortin Cloude, who was in charge of the cadet core groups sighed and stepped forward to make his point to the others.

"It would be best to place explosives around the ruins and extract our people back to Atlas. We still have an outpost there where we can live without the fear of the White Fang or a huge assault from the remaining Grimm. Now that the war is over, I suggest we bring back everyone as soon as possible." After he placed his input, he stepped back to is position and awaited the responses from his Fellow commanders. All three of the Commanders exuding Ruby had begun to bicker about their next cause of action. Of course no one could act until she gave the order. She did after all have the final say.

The young Commander got their attention as she coughed into her wrist lightly. The three Commanders all had their eyes on Ruby. The Huntress rolled her shoulders to relieve the tension in her mussels. "While I do agree with all of you for various reasons, The priority of our people must come first. We have been fighting a war 10 years in length. 10 years of just fighting for the survival of our race. What good will the sacrifices we've made in the past be, if we were to forsake our people now when they are at their weakest?"

Silence had filtered the area. The Commanders were quite. Unsure how to respond to her words in full understanding. Ruby continued to speak. "It is obvious that our people must come first above all else. Commander South. You will be in charge of protecting our civilians. We are sending them back to Atlas. Commander Giles will provide the soldiers and the transportation to Atlas. Major Grey will give 200 Seeker units that will provide the escort for our people as well as the rest of our men. The remaining Seekers and Deadkillers will remain here to set up an outpost in Vacuo. Commander Cloude, your Cadets will act on reserve and relief duties if any of our men are unable to do their task. Is that all clear? Or must I repeat myself?"

The Rose had been most defiantly clear. She just had to be sure that the others will follow through. she took another breath and continued. "But, I do also know that Adam Taurus Is far to dangerous to simply just ignore. But for now all we can do is just try and peace together what little information we can gather. We're all in the dark here, we need to be careful. We can't risk taking anymore losses."

The rose studied everybody's reactions to her declaration. There had been various responses . Few agreeing and disapproving with her decision. Before anybody could retort or phrase her for her actions, A rough, husky voice had spoke out.

"You no longer have to worry about gathering anymore information about Adam. I already found out what he's up to." Jaune Arc announced causally. Ruby along with the others looked towards the Black armored Cyborg as he made his appearance. Ruby's eyes raised in shock and surprise when she noticed Adam's right hand man and second in command, Bansaw beaten and ridiculously bloody, being was dragged roughly by the Huntsmen. His grip on him tight and secure. Jaune strolled up towards the other Commanders and dragged Bansaw along with him. The huge Faunus soldier was beaten to a pulp. His mask shattered and his face almost unrecognizable. Mortin Cloude folded his arms around his chest and frowned disapprovingly.

"Good to see you again Commander Arc. Though considering how many times you've failed to stay present for the majority of our debriefings I might as well start thinking of you as a stranger." The Commander's facial features had remained normal, but there had been traits of resentment in his eyes. The blonde Knight hardly gave the Commander any attention as he threw the half dead Bansaw into the middle of the group. "I don't have a reason to be here. I will come only if needed or requested." He replied plainly as he turned to face Ruby. "Ruby. I've got serious intell that you all need to hear." After he said that he glanced down to Bansaw menacingly.

"If you don't speak, I will make you regret it." He threatened. Bansaw coughed and grunted. He went to spit at Jaune in defiance, but was halted when a black clawed servo slammed across his throat in an instant. In little more than a moment his whole body was heaved into the air. Jaune held him up without effort and glared almost demonically at the helpless lieutenant.

Bansaw Felt the pressure of the Knights servos tighten and quickly blocked off his air supply. His body jerked in desperation. His arms were hitting the metallic limb in an attempt to release the pressure around his burning throat. with what little oxygen he could muster, He spoke up in submission. "Fu-uk! Okay! I'll talk-!" He coughed and sputtered. To his relief, and pain, he was dropped to the floor. His body connected with the steel under him.

Jaune stepped forward and stood over the downed faunus, Cold calculating ocean eyes had watched his every move.

Ruby had strolled up beside him and glanced at the Knight. She had puffed a light sigh at Jaunes method but ultimately decided to drop the subject for now.

"Speak. Inform everyone here of what you told me earlier. I am not going to repeat myself again." The Cyborg had then stood straight and folded his servos behind his back and looked over to Ruby and nodded in her direction.

Bansaw wiped the blood from his mouth and growled like an animal. He froze when he saw the Dark Knight place a servo upon the blade that was sheathed on his left thigh. Finally accepting defeat, Bansaw lowered his head and sighed. "I hope you all enjoyed your victory, humans. Because it will be your last. I can assure you all that."

Ruby rolled her eyes at the deceleration. _'_ _like i haven't heard that one before.'_ "What is it that Adam Plans to do? And where did he retreat to?" Asked the young Rose. Her silver eyes had been narrowed with her full attention focused on the figure in front of her. The room was dead silent. The other Commanders listening in wait.

Bansaw sat up and sat on his knees while glaring at the leaders of humanity. "Adam had foreseen our defeat. He had the wits and knowledge to begin constructing a plan that would secure the future of all faunus kind." He stopped and looked up at the red reaper. "By eliminating YOU." He confessed harshly. The commanders had muttered and erupted in disputes. Ruby raised an eyebrow in shock and surprise, along with traces of disbelief.

Commander Giles had stepped forward and frowned at the information. "He must be lying. Even if Adam Taurus had six of his best lieutenants accompanying him, It would be suicide to attack Commander Rose after our victory. This information is clearly false." After she spoke she glanced over to Jaune who steered back at her blankly.

Jaune's gritty voice interrupted the Commander before she could accuse him of any faults. "The lieutenant is telling the truth. I can scan his bio readings and pick up on his expressions, along with his emotions that Valor can detect through his Aura. I can tell if someone is feeding lies or being truthful. in this case, his words have merit."

Commander Giles was left speechless. She opened and closed her mouth and simply furrowed her brows in annoyance. She stepped back and kept quite. Ruby herself was blown away. She had no idea that Jaune had attained an ability like that before. Though knowing him, he would of upgraded his equipment without informing her. Not that he had to though. She respected his privacy above all else.

Knowing that they were on the right track, Ruby continued her interrogation of the faunus. "I still don't understand. Why me?"

Bansaw sneered at her. "You are the biggest threat to our success. Adam knows that in order for us to become victorious he needs to eliminate the last being to hold the power of the silver eyes. By killing you before you were able to become who you were now." He stated with a smirk on his face.

This had left the commanders confused even more. Everyone was about to erupt into another dispute when the Arc spoke up after he had pieced together the information . "Adam plans to eliminate Ruby in the past, Preventing her from eliminating Salem and leading Humanity to winning the war. By killing her, you change the entire outcome of the future. I can assume that Humanity falls to the White Fang with Adam becoming the world leader."

Bansaw grinned and chuckled loudly. His crazed gleeful laughter echoing around the entire room. He continued and pointed towards Jaune. "You will be long dead as well, Cyborg. She is the only reason that you survived to this day. Without her your days are numbered. Adam will burn you the same as before!" Shouted the wolf Faunus.

Jaune had exploded in a rage. The final words had set him off. He lunged forward and slammed his servo around the base of Bansaw's skull. Like before he heaved him into the air only this time he was much more violent in doing so. Bansaw begun screaming as the black clawed fingers had dug into his eye sockets. He shrieked and started kicking his legs out and gripped the black servo, attempting to remove the grip around his skull and eyes.

Ruby and the others were stunned at his outburst and attempted to get Jaune to release him but he simply shook them off.

Jaune was blind in his anger. His vision only seeing red as he muttered two words.

"Fuck you."

Bansaw's head had then caved in under the pressure of the Cyborgs servo. Blood and the gore of brain tissue bursting outward and stained the area around them. Shattered bone littered the floor in little specs of White in small rivers of crimson. The Commanders all gasped at the scene.

Commander South grimaced at the bloody sight and nearly gagged. "I hope that you are pleased, Arc. You just killed off our only lead of tracking down Adam Taurus." He said while avoiding the headless figure laying limp upon the floor. The Dark Knight Was heaving rapidly. He glanced down to his gore covered fist and closed his eyes behind the faceplate mentally cursed. _"Fuck, I let my emotions take over my logical thoughts."_

After he was able to get a grip of himself both mentally and physically, He responded to South in the same tone he had before previously. He had purposely avoided eye contact with Ruby out of fear of seeing her reaction. "That device there-" he responded by pointing to the machinery down the far side of the room. "-Is what Adam used during his escape. He vanished before my blade could strike him." He and the others all looked towards the complex device with interest. Cloude spoke up.

"So my guess is that Adam had somehow managed to create a device that manipulated time itself? He made a fucking time Machine?" The baffled Commander called. Ruby, still shaken by the recent display, responded.

"It appears to be true. So our future is now going to be decided from what happens in the past? How are we going to win against that? We don't have anyone that knows how to work such a machine."

Jaune's head perked up at the Rose's comment. When Jaune made eye contact with her, He could tell that Ruby flinched slightly out of fear, but she had composed herself quickly. Her silver eyes on him as he spoke.

"Valor Might be able to get it to function. If i upload the VI into the terminal of the device we could get the instructions on how to work it, theoretically." He added.

The others all glanced to one another, and agreed with Jaune's offer. Ruby sighed and nodded her approval once everyone else looked towards her for confirmation.

"Alright guys. Lets do it."

* * *

"Okay, someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on?" Major Grey called out as he watched the other soldiers gathering around the odd looking machine as it hummed loudly. The power of the underground complex stuttered and lights sparked every so often. What ever the damn thing was, it was draining the energy of this place quickly.

The leader of the Seeker units was leaning against the wall as he communicated with the others. "Something to do with a Time machine being used to go back into the past or something." Deadkiller Captain Anderson replied. He sat on an ammunition crate and was loading in knew shells for the fire-arm in his grip.

Captain Port walked in along with the Deadkillers of Sigma squad close behind him as they lingered about. "Well Wouldn't that be interesting! The White Fang are truly intimidating opponents if they are able to go back in time to kill our grand leader miss Rose!" Ben Port announced. His cheerful nature never fading a single bit.

Everyone sighed at Ports announcement. As much as they liked the young Deadkiller Captain, he had an enraging amount of enthusiasm the was as annoying as it was appreciated.

Grey moaned at Ports arrival. He released a hefty sigh before he caught on to what Port was saying. "Wait, What?

How do you know that? We haven't even been told anything yet." He asked feeling Confused.

Port chuckled heavily at the Seeker. "I don't. But it is extremely obvious with what they're doing. That machine surely looks like it does something fancy. And my guess is that Adam Taurus plans to travel back to the past to kill his arch nemesis!" Exclaimed the Deadkiller while using hand motions to get his point across.

Anderson rolled his eyes. "That is the most ridiculous theory that you've come up with so far. That sounds like a typical bad Si-Fi movie."

Grey grunted in agreement with Anderson and a few other soldiers that were waiting around the area on stand by. Port was about to pout at the leader of Alpha squad but was halted when Helena walked down the ramp and got their attention.

"Captain Anderson, Captain Port and Major Grey, Commander South has given orders to alert all units that Adam Taurus has discovered a means of traveling back into the past to assassinate Commander Ruby. I was informed to hand the message over to you three." She announced while passing them all a holo pad that contained data of the situation.

Grey sat their slack jawed at what he just heard. He was dumbfounded by the impeccable timing that the chance of something like that could happen. He glanced over towards Anderson and saw him sighing while rubbing his eyes in annoyance. Port however was overjoyed that his far fetched theory had been proven to be true. He sat there cheering and congratulating himself like the jolly man he is.

"A typical bad Si-Fi movie indeed." Anderson muttered as he prepared himself for port's endless boasting.

* * *

Jaune was standing among the benches containing weapons and vast amounts of ammunition and tools displayed carelessly over the steel tables. The Dark Knight had been occupying his time in the remains of the Armory inside the underground structure. The young Huntsmen had been currently calibrating his weaponry and preforming any maintenance on his armored body.

His HUD had been feeding him all of the necessary readings on the damage he had taken. He grunted approval. Any, and all wounds that he had sustained previously in the battle had almost been completely healed as his enhanced Aura did its work. In his first year as a Cyborg, he had combined his natural Aura with nano machines. Tiny little machines that repaired any damaged synthetic tissue at a exhilarated rate.

After discovering that Aura alone could not heal damaged mechanical limbs, it was decided that Jaune undergo an upgrade. While Jaunes Aura was superior to even some of the most seasoned Combatants, should his Aura ever become fully depleted and if he suffered any wounds, Jaunes Aura could not repair any injuries. While Aura can heal wounds of bone and flesh, mending titanium alloy plated armor and metallic limbs was beyond the limitations of ones soul to comprehend. Thus the solution of nano machines was brought to light. The nano machines repaired any injuries and enhancing Jaunes Aura further. If Jaune activates his semblance, both nano machines and his Aura go into overdrive. The young hunter has the potential to become virtually indestructible for a limited amount of time.

As powerful as this ability can be, it is extremely taxing on the mind and body. If used for long amounts of time, this trump card drains his body's aura levels to the point where the nano machines become overtaxed and leaving Jaune defenseless and mentally drained. After a calculated estimation, the Cyborg could hold his semblance continuously for 18 minutes. 25 if he pushed himself to the brink of death.

Another perk that came with his new found semblance was that Jaune can transfer a small amount of his Aura over to another to act as a booster or a temporary shield for a limited time.

Were it not for the provided resources and available facilities from Atlas, Jaune would have never survived without the enhancements he now has. He was the most advanced technology engineered being to walk the Planet. General James Ironwood's own constructed limbs could not even hold a candle to the advancement of former student of Beacon academy. When Ruby discovered a way to save and repair her friend, she had pleaded to the General to come up with a solution.

Ironwood had graciously accepted her desperate request. The birth of project 'Guardian' had then officially begun with the singular purpose of reviving the fallen hunter.

The Dark Knight was the result of their success. Instead of bringing back the friend Ruby had grown to love more then just a companion, a cold, ruthless and relentless killer was what she had received. What ever remained of the goofy, compassionate and reckless Knight was dead the moment he woke up to live a life as a machine rather then a human. With next to nothing but the rage that seemed to dominate the remnants of who he once was.

It hurt the young rose to acknowledge that Jaune is completely aware of what he has become and is not fazed in the slightest. The shadow that was now Jaune Arc had continued to fight for humanity and for it's future. Jaune had then officially resigned from his position as a Commander of the resistance, no longer having any passion for his old position. While his reputation as the Deadkiller commander remained, his former weight and authority over the resistance fighters fell with his resignation. Jaune had instead been used as a front-line soldier and head recon scout. Often moving on solo missions and operating alone.

His effectiveness in battle was matched by none. by the time the other commanders had realized the potential the former human held, they begun to send Jaune on top priority assassinations. Targeting high ranking members of the White Fang and beyond. What they purposely forgot to mention was informing their leader, Ruby Rose of such operations. Each member knowing that the young Rose would object and refuse any and all assassination missions.

When Jaune himself had discovered the corruption within the ranks of Command, he informed Ruby and threatened each and every Commander servery. Jaune even went so far as to draw blades against Commander Cloude.

After Ruby defused the situation, she was left with no choice but to agree that Jaune was one of the best Advantages they had in the war. Only using him in mainstream operations seemed redundant. With a heavy heart Ruby gave the final confirmation to unleash Jaune against the enemy in one of the most honor-less ways possible.

As for Jaune himself, he could see the benefit in what they were using him for. But he resented Ruby for agreeing with the other leaders. Sending people to hunt down and murder others was not like Ruby at all. The stress of being the soul hope for Humanity had changed the innocent little rose into something she wasn't. Then again, he couldn't say much himself in regards to the subject. He knew how much he had changed. Though for better or for worse was still an unknown to the Knight.

" _Though i have a suspicion that it's for the worse, if those looks Ruby keeps sending me are to be of any proof."_

The Cyborg mused to himself. He went back and resumed his task. He was watching the feeds of data streaming across his HUD as Jaune loaded in fresh rounds for his retractable mini-guns. He loaded in another belt of ammo into an open slot on his forearm and watched the rounds reach their max capacity. Both left and right arms were now stocked at 200 rounds each. Now satisfied he raised his left arm and mecha-shifted the limb back to it's original form. Metal plates cracked and whirled, hydraulics hissed as a humanoid limb reformed and clicked and locked back into place. Black metallic clawed servos clenched as Jaune sighed, relieved. He hated the feeling of his limbs changing. It felt so...unnatural to him. It was an unpleasant experience to go through. He finally understood what Yang had gone through when she had been able to Mecha shift her arm into another version of her shotgun gauntlets _Ember_ _celica._ For the second time in a minute, Jaune sighed. The thought of the blonde brawler had instantly made his mood fowl.

Just as Jaune was about to go into a flashback, he heard a light cough from behind him. Jaune shook his head and turned around and quirked an eyebrow in mild surprise. Ruby stood, unarmed and dressed in normal military attire along with her signature red hood draped around her neck and shoulder. She smiled at him kindly and stepped forward.

"Mind if we speak, Jaune?" She asked politely. Her silver eyes held his gaze.

Jaune Looked at her questionably before spotting Rub's Cresent Rose tucked under the small females arm in it's compact form. It's signature red color scheme faded and scratched in multiple areas. Small dents were spotted among them, expressing it's heavy use in battle. The Cyborg quickly glanced up and met Ruby's eyes with his own.

He disengaged the Faceplate, the sides retracting and revealed his cold ocean blue eyes. He blinked slowly and nodded.

"What is it?" He asked bluntly. Ruby had a look in her eyes he didn't like. It meant that she had something important to tell him. He mentally prepared himself and folded his arms and gave her a look.

Ruby moved forward a few more steps before she stopped by a supply crate. She leaned on it and huffed lightly to herself before she spoke. "Jaune, me and the others have spoken. Over the past few hours Valor was able to feed us some useful data on the machine. We were able to get it functional, but we lack both the equipment, and the men with the knowledge to repair machine properly."

Ruby had then pulled a microchip like device from her pocket and held it out for Jaune to take. the small green colored chip glowed dimly in her palm as she waited for the other Huntsmen to grasp it.

Jaunes took a step forward and gently grasped the item from her pale hand. The Blonde cyborg swiftly and carefully inserted the chip into a slot that opened up from a small port on his chest armor. the two plates that covered the upper chest area shifted and retracted outwards by a few digress. The small slot extended outwards slightly as Jaune inserted the chip into his chest. The plates of armor shifted back to their original position and locked into place. Janue felt the similar sensation of small electric pulses shooting up his spine and into his skull. The warm rush flowed around his limbs as his VI reactivated and bonded with Knights Hardware.

Jaune closed his eyes briefly through out the short experience and quickly shook it off and opened them again.

With valor now filling Jaune in on the details of what Ruby was telling him it only took moments fro him to figure out what the current situation was.

He hummed out load after what Valor informed him of. "So we were able to get the machine to work, just not properly? which means that it's unknown how it's going to function if we turn it on?" He asked grimly to his companion. Ruby in return, winched but shook her head.

"Well, not exactly, no. Our men were able to set a date and time to travel to. but the device was banged up in the recent fight and it's taken a lot of damage. It's amazing to see it able to activate considering you slashed one of it's main processors when you attempted to hit Adam." Ruby stated as she gave him a dead-pan look.

Jaune continued to stare blankly back at her before shrugging his shoulders in response. "That was an accident." he replied simply. The rose was about to retort but grunted and ignored it.

"Well I suppose it doesn't really matter regardless anyway. With what valor informed us about the time machine is that it requires a mass amount of energy from the strongholds generators. Bad news is, The generators are hardly functional as it is after our Bullhead squadrons carpet bombed the area."

Ruby said regretfully. Her head lowering slightly. Jaune had caught on to what she was saying and responded. "So that means we have only one shot at using this before it fucks out on us?"

He said, the look Ruby gave him confirmed his thoughts. He frowned in frustration. What ruby was about to tell him next was worse. "We barely have enough energy to send anyone through it. the more people that we want to transport the more power it uses. It only has enough to send one of our own. If Valor's estimations are correct.."

The situation could not of been any worse. It had been from one problem to another. Ruby's words had said it all.

After all they had been through, it seemed that they were back at square one all over again. Jaune rubbed his eyeys and released a growl. "So it's unknown that even one of us could pass through safely without the machine shutting down, and it's impossible for anyone else?" He rephrased. His voice low.

"Yes." Was Ruby's reply.

Before Jaune could say anymore, The next words she spoke hit him harder then a explosive dust round.

"But I want you to be the one who goes."

The Black Knight shot up straight in surprise and shock. his eyes widened while his metallic jaw opened slightly. The sight would of been funny to see had the situation not been so serious. He looked into The small huntress's eyes and only saw that she had had not a single doubt about her decision. She obviously had thought long and hard on this, and was not going back on what she said. Jaune frowned in confusion and looked to her to rectify why she chose him of all people. The young rose had noticed his hesitation.

"Jaune, we are the only two huntsmen alive in all of remnant. There is no one left in the resistance that can match us in combat. Hell, i'd even say that you surpass me by a mile." She said smiling softly. She continued on.

"Your will and determination to see things through is unmatched. I've seen you go through hell and back on countless occasions and you didn't even bat and eye, even in the face of death. Your the reason why so may of us are alive today and you never turned your back on anyone that relied on you. Not once."

Ruby paused. letting what she said sink in. Jaune stood there, still and silent. His head lowered as he tried to look in any direction but her.

"What I admire about you most Jaune, is that you would die for anyone of us, no matter who they were. And I guess in a way you did." She said sadly, referencing the event when Jaune and Yang had been defeated by Adam years ago. She saw that Jaune clenched his servos tightly as she spoke.

"I Picked you Jaune because you are the strongest of us. I believe only you can prevent the past from repeating itself. we Know Adam is coming for me. None of us know when he'll attack, but he will. Your the only person who knows me best and can get me to trust you quickly with what you already know." Ruby finished. She glanced at the Black armored Cyborg with content. She awaited for Jaunes reaction and his response. Minutes went by and there was nothing but the airy silence in the armory as the two stood but a few feet apart from one another.

"...why not yourself? Why not pick yourself to go back? Wouldn't you want to see Yang again? Or your Father? Or Qrow?" he said, clearly conflicted with emotions rumbling beneath the surface. On the verge of boiling over.

Ruby's shoulders slumped heavily. the pain of losing her whole family and her team tore at her heart. "Because im needed here Jaune. The people no longer need a Commander. They need a leader to help them rebuild and start over. The war may be over now, but that doesn't mean that other conflicts will arise in time. I'm going to lead and protect the people here until i'm no longer needed. My duties here have only just started Jaune."

Ruby stated with intent. She reached over with her free hand and brushed a long strand of hair behind her ear. "Please Jaune. don't make me beg." She said with a shuddering breath. Her voice near cracking.

Jaunes head snapped up. The sound of her voice...He hated it when it was like that. He couldn't bare it. He never wanted to hear her sound like that. It reminded him off...Pyrrha...

"Okay Ruby, I'll go. I'll do it."

Ruby nodded her head in gratitude. The 25 year old wiped a lone tear from her eye. As much as she wanted Jaune to stay with her, she knew that it was no longer possible. Out of everybody in the resistance, Jaune was the only one that was capable of stopping Adam. For years now Jaune and Ruby had no one to rely on but each other through the hard times of the war. This decision was decided by the Commanders, but she was the one that suggested and confirmed the choice. Besides her previous statements and reasons as to why Jaune was picked, the real reason was to give Jaune an opportunity to restart a new life. One with everyone still alive and well. She hoped that after Jaune prevents Adam from succeeding, he might have a second chance at life. One without having to fight every single day just to go from one battle to the next and repeat.

Ruby knew she couldn't go, even if she wanted to. Her people had looked to her throughout all of her years as the leader of Faunus and Humanities remnants. She couldn't abandon them now. She still had a role to fill. But a Role that no longer involved any war. Thus her next decision made it all the more hard to follow through with.

She lifted up crescent rose in her right arm and held it out. Both arms now gripping the weapon softly. She raised the weapon towards the Cyborg in from of her. With defiant expression and a determined posture she spoke:

"Thank you Jaune. I know that you'll stop this tragedy from becoming a reality." She glanced at the crimson weapon she held out in her arms. "I want you to take this with you Jaune. I no longer need this anymore. I want you to use it in your fight against Adam. And in time when you feel it's right, please give it to my younger self when she is prepared. When you feel the time is right."

Jaune Understood what she was getting at. But was still shocked to know that Ruby was handing him crescent rose. That weapon was literally an extension of her. Ruby loved it that much she slept with it almost every night. And he could easily see that what she was doing was extremely difficult for her to do. He saw the mental struggle she was having as she was giving him her trusted weapon.

With slow movements, Jaune reached up and wrapped his servos around the casing of the Red device. The Cyborg took one last glance at Ruby, looking for a finial confirmation. She nodded stiffly but surely. He lifted the compact scythe and studied it briefly before hooding it to the back of his leather Harness on his back.

"I promise to take good care of it Ruby, and i'll ensure it goes to your younger self when the time is right." He vowed to his long time friend. Ruby stepped up quickly and embraced him, wrapping her small arms around his torso and buired her head into his armored chest. "I'm going to miss you." She whispered as she finally let her emotions flow out as she wept against his coat. long streams of tears fell from her eyes as she sobbed uncontrollably onto the Dark Knight.

In a rare display of compassion, Jaune wrapped his arms around the little rose and held her tightly, also being mindful of his claws. For a moment the two remained like that. Simply holding one another in a farewell embrace as Ruby cried in sadness. Jaune Held her and did not utter a word. Only allowing Ruby to vent out her emotions. The red hooded figure Never thought that Jaune would leave her. But for the survival of the worlds future, she was forced to do what was necessary. Her biggest fear near the end of the War was losing Jaune. and that is what is happening. She was about to lose the last string that held her together. Jaune was also well aware of this as well, his feelings for the rose on similar lines.

"I'm gonna miss you too, crater face." He responded. His voice low and calm. His Hard blue eyes softened as he looked at her.

Ruby had not heard that name in over seven years. As strange as it was, she missed hearing the blonde say had always brought a sense of calm over her mind. To hear Jaune say it again after so many years had brought back some feeling of comfort to her. Ruby released a light giggle as she wiped her tear stained face. A small smile grew on her lips as she begun to feel a little bit better.

"Jaune, with what your about to do, it is highly likely that we'll never see each other again. The trip is only one way. And with you changing time it'self the time frame will alter and shift. You'll never be able to return." She warned. Her smile fading somewhat. Jaune sighed in defeat. "I am well aware of the consequences. But you picked me to do this because no one else will. I'll get it done. just don't forget me when i'm gone. you'll always be with me in my thoughts. While your fight may have ended, mine has just started. It's a fight i cant walk away from. And you know it." The Dark Knight said. He released Ruby from the embrace and looked at her with understanding.

Ruby nodded with him. You've been one of the few reasons why i kept fighting, Jaune. You'll never leave my thoughts. Ever. I hope when this is all over you'll finally find some peace for yourself."

"Thank you, Ruby. Maybe someday I will." He said with gratitude. It was then a call came thought the young Rose's ear piece. Ruby Raised a finger and opened the request. "Rose here, what is it?" She called.

The voice on the comm was linked to Jaune's channel. allowing the Cyborg to hear in on what was being said.

" _Commander Rose, this is Commander South. Our technicians have reported that the machine is ready for use. But i'd suggest that Huntsmen Arc join us quickly. the energy is draining by the minute._ " Was the report from the fellow Commander. Ruby slumped her stance and sighed. "Understood Commander South. Me and Jaune will be with you all shorty. Rose Out." After that she then turned to Jaune.

"I heard." was his blunt answer to her unspoken question. Ruby hesitantly shifted her feet in the direction of the exit from the armory. "let's go Jaune. It's time." She gestured with her head. Jaune took a deep breath. And followed after her. The two made their way back to the room where the Machine was located.

* * *

 _ **Time: 4;36 P.M**_

 _ **Location: Island of patch, Off the boarder of Vale.**_

 _ **Year: 23rd of June 2217 DA (10 and a half years before the war)**_

In the snow covered land of Patch, the afternoon sun had slowly but surly begun to set over the horizon. the frost colored tress ranging from pine to multiple other species begun to glow as the shattered moon begun to rise as night was on it's way. The winter season was the main cause of the shortage of daytime. Not that locals cared. Snowflakes hovered in the air as it continued to poor over the grass, disguising the green natural floor into a pale white that nearly glowed in the night. A small, natural clearing was teaming with wildlife. Thankfully, This region of the territory was usually safe from the Grimm creatures as they tended to prowl far deeper into the thick forests of the Island. Birds called and chirped to one another while small pockets of deer grazed the grass that was covered from the snow. The song of mother nature was very beautiful to hear. If people were lucky, they'd get to experience such a rare occasion. Due to the world teaming with the creatures of Grimm, Most animals feared ever showing themselves so openly.

For many hours, this portrait was undisturbed. That was until the inbuilt animal instinct flared up in their senses. Warning them that something was coming, or something was about to happen. The deer were the first to react to this and quickly pounced away to safety. All of the Birds flew from the branches of the trees and took off to the sky. Hundreds of them shading the sky as they departed to their nests.

Winds had started to pick up as the leaves of the tress begun waving around. A small dark cloud had formed high above the clearing and begun circling around like some sort of natural phenomenon. The sky had suddenly got darker and the winds had suddenly picked up. It looked like a thunderstorm was about to begin.

In an instant, A mass bolt of neon blue electricity exploded from the cloud and connected against the middle of the clearing. the sheer force of the blast had literally ripped entire tree trunks from the roots and sent them flying back outwards into the pine trees being them. the Snow was evaporated and dirt and earth was blown from a crater that had formed in the middle. small flames had licked the burnt bits of timber that littered around the area.

As the mess around the center of the crater begun to fade and clear, a single humanoid being stood in a hunched over position. As the remains finally cleared out, the figure began to move. It stood up to it's full height of about 6.6ft. Black clawed servos opened around the figures arms as they resembled fingers. A black trench coat covered the black metallic being as he began to look around. When he turned a black armored Faceplate covered the beings face and he studied his surroundings.

This figure was Jaune Arc. Former Huntsmen of Beacon academy and former brother to seven older sisters. He has returned no longer as a man. But as a weapon. A weapon that will defend and Protect the young Rose from the Man that was responsible for Becoming who he now was. No matter the cost, Jaune will defend Ruby Rose and prevent the future from repeating itself. And also most importantly, hunt down and kill Adam Taurus.

This is a start of a whole new war. One that Jaune intended to finish.

* * *

 _ **AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD BBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!**_

 _ **sorry for the long wait guys. a lot of shit has happened to keep me busy. now I'n not too sure if i am at all happy with the ending of this chapter. It lacked the excitement i wanted it to**_ _**have. I guess i'll find out how well I've done when i look at the reviews. Anyway, it's good to be back. let me know what you guys think. Until next time :)**_


	7. Chapter 5

_**It's been rather interesting for me lately. Experiencing the life as an adult. I have turned 18 a few months ago, and shit has got real busy for me haha. I now work six days a week. work 56/52 hours people. I have had next to no social life so writing has been difficult for me. Buttttttttt...i have managed to scrap together a chapter for the story. I will confess that this not my best work on paper. but I needed to push this out before too long. So here it is guys. The chapter you have all been waiting for. Have fun! :)**_

 _ **P.S: Things from here on out will get a bit Au but will stay within the majority of the vanilla storyline.**_

* * *

 _ **Time: 6:51 P.M**_

 _ **Location: Island of patch, Off the boarder of Vale.**_

 _ **Year: 23rd of June 2217 DA (10 and a half years before the war)**_

"Tai, you need to relax. Shes only been gone for an hour. Patch is a small island, she'll turn up sooner or later." The voice came from a man of tall stature, and housing a thin build. Black hair with graying sides were brushed back in annoyance. Red eyes rolling as a sigh escaped his mouth.

He was met with a fierce gaze from piercing ocean blue eyes. The blonde hair swayed as he stomped his foot down on the oak wooden floor in frustration.

"She was _**meant**_ to be back an hour ago, Qrow."

Taiyang Xiao Long, Father of two daughters and former Huntsmen explained drastically to his best friend. He sighed lightly and walked over to the fire place, rubbing his nose in thought. The heat proving much warmth for the two story family home.

"She never returns late when she goes out training. You, of all people should know that." Qrow simply nodded in agreement. But appeared calm and relaxed. He kicked out one leg and leaned against one of the support beams for the upper floor of the house. Folding his arms over his chest. After but a moment he responded to his worried companion. His gravel like voice speaking up. "The kid has been trained by both of us Tai. she's more then ready for any dangers on this island. Grimm are at an all time low here. Shes turning 15 in a few months. She probably decided to go do some exploring."

Qrow branwen said as he reached into his shirt and pulled out his flask. Unscrewing the cap he drank down the contents within it. He frowned when he felt that the alcohol inside was running low again. " _Gonna have to get a re-fill when I leave...Damn."_ Qrow grunted to himself. He returned the flask into his shirt pocket as he looked back at Tai. The retired Huntsmen continue to blurt out his worries and concerns for his youngest daughter. Before He could make a fool of himself Qrow raised a palm up to silence him on the spot. It seemed to have worked. which surprised him.

"Okay look, I'll go out and look for the kid before you walk a trench in the ground from all that pacing. You might wanna get yang to relax until I get back. Knowing the fire cracker shes probably overheard you moaning."

With that being said, the black haired hunter kicked himself off the post and moved for the door. He ignored Taiyang's words of thanks and swung the wooden door wide open. He was met with surprise, at the sight that greeted him. Eyebrows arched high, he blinked at the sight of his niece standing at the doorstep. covered in dirt and snow. Her winter dress coat ripped and stained with Grimm ash while her hair was nothing more then a tangled mess.

With a nervous smile she linked her fingers together as she gave her uncle and dumbfounded father a sheepish look. "Hey, sorry i'm late." Ruby Rose called out. Both men glanced at one another, both had questioning looks on their faces. Tai was the first to speak up. "Where have you been young lady!?" He nearly shouted. Qrow was about to say something on similar lines. Without the same volume though.

Ruby pressed her thumbs together as she glanced into the direction of the forest behind her. "It's a long story..." She said. Her gaze looking in the direction of the snow covered forest.

* * *

 ** _An hour earlier..._**

Claws dug into the thick layers of snow as a black shaped creature moved at the peak of its natural speed. Glowing red eyes sparked with hatred and a mixture of fear. The battered white bone armor plating would do little to protect it from what was pursuing it. The beowolf thought it was safe if it reached the trees in time. The Grimm creature turned its head to see the pursuing menace.

That had proved to be a fatal mistake.

The blade of a crimson scythe swung downwards in the corner of the beasts eyes. That was the last thing it saw before the blade sliced through and decapitated the monster in a matter of moments. The body of the large beast slammed into the snow covered ground and rolled violently while its head flew off in another direction. Ash from the now disintegrating corpse now flowing freely from its now limp figure. As the corpse began to dissipate into thin air the one responsible for this short display of violence landed on the floor. Black boots hitting the ground, red rose petals faintly hanging within the still air of winter.

A red cloak hung freely on the persons shoulders as the massive weapon was slammed into the ground as a support to lean on.

The young Ruby rose sighed in satisfaction with a cheerful smile graced her lips. Cheeks red from the cold. With her hood still draped over her head for warmth she removed it to witness her handiwork. She looked behind her and overlooked the clearing where she had been training. Numerous patches of black ash and ammunition shells littered the area all around the field of snow.

"Wow...I believe that's enough for one day." Ruby nodded to herself. Proud and happy with her combat skills and how they have progressed. She had already done what she intended before she started hunting down lingering Grimm. She had visited her mothers grave stone and paid her respects. Concluding that her day was finished, she had begun to trek her way back home. And judging how far she had traveled, it should take her about 20 minutes or so. Ruby contemplated on using her semblance, due to her already being late on returning home. But dealing with about three packs of beowolf's beforehand had drained her. Her Father was no doubt going to have a fit when she got back.

"Eh, I'm late already. walking it is." The young teen confirmed to herself. The Girl in red raised her trusted weapon, Crescent Rose and retracted it back into its compact state. She re-attached it on her waist and begun her short journey back into the safe part of the Island.

As the minutes went by, nothing changed out of the ordinary. Nothing but tall trees and snow covered land. Ruby took in the beauty of the land around her as she progressed on. How ever, there was no sound of the natural animals. No bird callings or insects clicking about. It was quite. Far too quite.

Ruby frowned as the hairs on the back of her neck begun to rise. Something was wrong. She had her hand placed on the device she had strapped to her waist. Ready to be drawn out at a moments notice. Her silver eyes darted around the landscape for any potential threats.

Nothing in sight. Ruby decided to keep moving. But kept her guard up. If there was one thing that Her uncle Qrow advised, it was to always expect an attack at the most 'unexpected' moment.

 _"Kid, with all categories of Grimm you need to take extra care. Most of them are lacking in intelligence. But they are all predatory with there instincts. They'll wait and watch until they see an opening in your defense. Don't give them that option."_

Ruby remembered the lesson well enough, and so did her sister Yang. Ever so weary the girl moved as quick and as safely as she could. Nothing Could prepare her for what was to come.

The ground shook violently, as the trees shook. Panicked, Ruby begun to unclasp Crescent rose. Before she could, the ground a meter in front of her exploded as snow and dirt fired outwards. The roar of a Beast followed suit as two giant sized pincers became visible. Due to the sheer force of the creatures reveal, Ruby was sent flying backwards. her back hit a thin layer of snow as she tumbled and rolled. Laying on her back she quickly got up to standing as the massive creature climbed out of the hole it dug itself in. It had became clear as day that by identifying the glowing stinger on the armored tail, it was a Deathstalker. Extremely rare Grimm for places like Patch.

Frightened, Ruby quickly unclasped her weapon and shifted it into its sniper mode. ' _A Deathstalker!? I was never trained to fight these before!'_ The young teen was afraid. Her father and uncle said that Grimm of this caliber were next to none existent on the island. And her dad said she wasn't yet ready to fight something so strong.

She then pulled the trigger and fired round after round at the massive scorpion. However, her bullets only bounced off of the monsters armor-plated skin. Hardly fazing the beast in the slightest. Feeling the girls fear the Grimm had become hungry for more. It charged forward at frightening speeds for a creature it's size. It slammed its car sized pincers right where Ruby once stood. The red hooded girl jumped to the side just at the last second while using her semblance. Changing her sniper back into its scythe mode she went and jumped at the side of the Deathstalker. Spinning and slashing with as much strength and speed as she could.

She grunted in frustration. Nothing had happened. As she was about to try another tactic the Deathstalker swung its tail and smacked her away as if she were nothing more then a pest. Ruby's back collided with a tree, snapping it in half and sending splinters everywhere as she landed some paces behind it. The teen moaned in pain. Looking at the faint glowing highlights around her body as they flickered indicated that her aura levels were just about depleted. Struggling to rise, She shot forward again. This time using her semblance to sprint up the tree near the Deathstalker. once at the top she jumped up and switched her weapon into its sniper form and fired it behind her, using it to propel her decent downwards.

She then flipped forward and changed Crescent Rose into it's scythe mode once again, swinging its curved blade downwards and into the bone-like armor. Her blade connected near it's eyes, as they stared at her menacingly. The whole impact of Ruby's attack only seemed to stagger the giant beast, only further enraging it. As ruby attempted to moved out of the way the yellow glowing stinger shot forward and slammed into her chest, sending her tumbling a few meters ahead of the Grimm. When the stinger collided into her chest, Ruby cried out in pain as her aura finally gave out, but she was lucky that it had not breached her skin. The poison alone would of killed her in minutes.

Covered in dirt and snow, Ruby raied her head and placed an arm over her chest as it ached. She glanced around and found that her weapon had flown in a separate direction as her. Eyes wide in sheer panic, she tried her best to come up with a solution on what to do. She went to stand but her legs had given out on her. As a single tear ran down her face, hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind. Thoughts of her family, her parents and sister.

She begun to whimper and sob as the thought of never seeing them again flashed before her. As the giant Deathstalker was directly in front of her, it raised its stinger and arched it up ready to strike. Ruby did nothing but gaze with wide sliver eyes as she waited for the inevitable.

The Stinger shot forward towards the little rose. Time seemed to slow as the stinger drew nearer to her. When it was no more then three feet from her downed figure, a bright hase of neon blue shot forward in a downward arc.

It all happened so fast that Ruby could barely comprehend what was happening. The blue glow had swung downwards and spliced through the tail like butter, cutting the stinger off and sending it flying in another direction.

What appeared to be a black humanoid silhouette had then shot forward and jumped up high, and landed upon the back of the creature that was now roaring in agony. It was soon silenced when the blue glow in the shape of a sword swung downwards, the sheer force of the blow and the speed had literally cut the Deathstalker in half. The thunderous screeching of the monster had quickly ceased as the life left it in an instant. Ash poured out into the sky, masking ans shrouding the mysterious figure.

Ruby, wide eyed and shocked, had finally come to her senses. She slowly raised herself to stand, but still found extreme difficulty in doing so. She struggled to see due to the thickness of the ash from the deceased Grimm. But she could make out the outlines of this person that saved her. The outlines of the blue blade had deactivated as the figure begun to move. Ruby stopped in her tracks when the figure approached her, ever so slowly.

They were mere feet from each other as they stopped. Even then the girl struggled to make any features. The only thing she could make out was that this person was a male, and that he wore some sort of long coat. She knew for a fact that he could see her just fine. which both annoyed and frightened her slightly. Not a word was spoken however. Just a long silence between the two. Finally, the male moved his arm and reached outwards. In his (what she assumed was an armored glove) was her weapon, her baby, Crescent Rose. Slightly banged up from the recent fight she just had. Hesitantly she wrapped her hand around the weapon in its compact form and gently returned it to its clasp on her waist.

 _'He must of picked it up before he saved me.'_ Ruby thought to herself. The figure stepped further back into the ash cloud after she took hold of the weapon. It was then when she heard a voice coming from her savoir.

"Keep it safe." Came the gravelly like voice. He then turned and began to walk away, his form beginning to fade in the mist of Grimm ash.

Ruby stepped forward and called out to him. "Who are you?" She asked. Innocent eyes gleaming with gratitude and interest. The man stopped in his tracks. He turned his head to the side slightly taking his time before responding.

"Get home safe, kid. your Father and Uncle will be worried about you." And with that he vanished into the cloud of ash. His figure now gone as if it were never there. Confused and full of questions, Ruby eventually managed to recover enough to make the last of the trip back home. But there was one question that would forever bother her until her starting days at Beacon Academy. Who was this stranger? And would she ever see him again?

* * *

 _ **Yeah i'm sorry guys. this felt way too rushed for my liking. I don't really have much to say but hope you guys enjoyed it. i promise to make it up for you!**_


	8. Chapter 6

_**Well hello peeps! It's me again! My computer is trashed for good now, so I'm sorry for the delay in updates. Fear not, I will move heaven and earth to complete this story one way or another. I won't keep you poor souls waiting any longer, read on! :)**_

* * *

 _ **'** It's been a while Oz, and you know for a fact that I don't send written letters unless it's not possible for me to meet you face to face. But I've got some concerns regarding my niece, who you are aware of I'm sure. Due to your unorthodox methods in how you run your academy, I'll let it slide that you agreed to enrol Ruby two years before regulated entry. _

_Anyway, enough with the ranting. knowing you, you've probably skipped through all of the minor details so I'll keep this brief. I've been searching all around Vale for this 'Shadow' as Ruby dubbed whatever it was she saw almost a year ago. I've gone all over the continent and found next to nothing. Witness reports of the 'shadow' (Do we really have to call it that? it's so childish.) are little to none._

 _I have however, discovered some White fang corpses littered across the city of Vale. Around 11 that I've discovered so far. From the weaponry and attire they're so fond of using, they seem to be high ranking assassins. It may be purely coincidental but all of these bodies have been located within a 50 to 100 meter radius around Ruby's location, roughly at the time of death. Obviously its too soon to be coming to conclusions but I'm ending up with more questions then answers. The only other sliver of evidence I've gathered are what looks to be superheated plasma stab wounds around the neck area of each corpse. I can't say what kind of weapon it was that killed these poor bastards, but its something advanced more then your standard Atlas pulse rifle. That's for damn sure. I'd suggest contacting the Tin Man about potential upgrades within the Atlas military._

 _I'll be out of contact for a while, as you are aware I'm due to meet up with our maiden acquaintance. I'll be in touch when I return. I'm trusting you to keep Ruby and Yang safe, Oz. I know for a fact that things are gonna get interesting soon.'_

 _-Q_

* * *

The ink soaked paper was held lightly in the calloused hand of an individual, while the other held a half empty flask containing alcohol as it was gradually sipped over the late hours of night. Red eyes re-read over the writing, paying attention to anything he might have missed out on writing down. Satisfied he folded the sheet in half and placed it in an envelope, preparing to send it out to beacon academy, whilst doing so as discreetly as possible. That one letter alone contained information that could prove useful should it fall into the wrong hands. Qrow rubbed his eyes and sighed, the effects of fatigue showing in the bags around his eyes.

Yawning out loudly, the aging Hunter leaned back on the chair and kicked up his legs, getting comfortable and hoping to get some shut-eye before he made his long journey out into the wilderness once again. He placed the note within the coat pocket where he normally placed his flask. As Qrow continued to sip away at the strong contents of liqueur, he lost himself in thought. Trying to make sense of what he discovered.

From what Ruby told him all those many months ago, this unknown figure was draped in armor, black as ebony and moved like a shadow. Simply coming out of nowhere as it killed a Deathstalker and saved Ruby in the process. And as fast as he appeared, he vanished into thin air. Out of the whole encounter that was described to him from Ruby, there was two factors that had him very alerted. This thing, whatever it was, it had knowledge of both him and Taiyang. Being observed from an outside party without his knowledge had Qrow more then a little paranoid to say the least. Enough to have him scout the entire island of Patch more then a few times to trace whoever was watching his family.

The other factor at hand was how Ruby described how this 'Shadow' fought against the Deathstalker. Even the most seasoned Huntsmen need to be cautious when combating a Grimm of such calibre on their own. Qrow at first thought Ruby was being ridiculous when she told him and Tai about how quickly the Deathstalker was disposed of. According to the young rose, this thing had killed the Grimm in a matter of seconds. Attacking the creature with no more then two moves.

It sounded so unbelievable that it took Ruby over several hours to make him even consider that her tale was truthful.

Qrow huffed to himself in frustration. "Feels like I'm on a damn goose chase." Another swig of the flask was followed up as the Huntsmen continued to become more intoxicated. He heard footsteps over the wooden floor that led into the kitchen, creaking on the floorboards waking up the drunken Hunter. There was a feminine huff as the figure approached him. "Uncle Qrow, it's a Tuesday. Is there any particular reason as to why your drinking yourself into a state like this?"

The person called out with a hint of humor to her voice. Qrow peeled an eye open to see his eldest niece grinning at him as she was snacking away at a protein bar. Blonde hair was all he could make out due the slight haze to his vision. He grunted out in annoyance and closed his eyes again. "Yang, a good day to drink is any time of the week. All you need is a reason and your all set for the day." He responded lazily, attempting to go back into his power nap. yang rolled her eyes as she came up with a retort. "Oh riiighhhhttt. Because you've been so productive today." She said in between bites of her snack.

Qrow simply folded his arms around his chest and got more comfortable. "Yeap." Was his short reply to the blonde brawler. Yang huffed and made her way out to the living room. "Don't forget that me and Ruby are leaving for Beacon tomorrow!" She called out from down the hall. Qrow gave an affirmative grunt before sleep took him. One of the last thoughts he had before sleep took him was; ' _who the hell is this guy?'_ In regards to the black armoured figure that saved his niece. Only time will tell.

* * *

 _ **The next day: Beacon Academy:**_

The steaming of a hot brewed coffee was being gradually, and gratefully appreciated as it was fulfilling its purpose. The contents being consumed by one who enjoys the taste and bite of caffeine. Pale fingers wrapped around the mug as it was sipped away. An exhale of satisfaction escaped Ozpin. He took a glance at his watch as it ticked just onto 9:55 AM. The headmaster of Beacon Academy finished the last of his coffee before he gently placed the white mug on the desk behind him. He turned his relaxed gaze back out to the view of the school grounds below him.

The sheer beauty of the grounds was always a pleasant way for him to wind down after a long shift or to simply clear his mind. He placed both hands around his cane while he used it to lean on lightly. Brown eyes paid attention to the air ship in the distance, gradually getting closer the academy's docks. The old man was simply awaiting the arrival of the next generation of Hunters and Huntresses in training.

The wise and experienced individual knew for a fact that things were going to be rather interesting...and dangerous. White strains of hair fell in front of his rounded glasses. He reached up and flicked the loose bits of hair behind his ear before he returned to his previous posture. It was a beautiful day in Vale. The sun was out in full force but not to the point where it was unpleasant. A gentle breeze accommodated to make the weather even more enjoyable. It was perfect. Ozpin simply allowed himself to simply stare and appreciate the view.

At the other end of the headmaster's office, the doors to the elevator lift slid open. An aged and experienced Huntress stepped into the office with a steady stride. The clicks of her heels echoed faintly. The ends of her short worn cape rustling in the small draft. Held within her palm was A lit scroll containing all of the information on the new first year students. She came to a stop mid stride.

"The campus is empty Headmaster. The auditorium is prepared to house the new students before initiation." She reported. Her facial features hard and serious. Ozpin straightened his shoulders. He kept his gaze on the view in front of him as he responded. "Understood. When are our students due to arrive at the docks, Glynda?"

The Deputy Headmistress by the name of Glynda Goodwitch looked at the time displayed on the screen of her scroll. "In five minutes. I'd suggest heading down to introduce our new Huntsmen to Beacon Academy." Glynda advised. The Headmaster stood still. Though he may have remained silent, She was aware that her old friend had heard her clearly. Expecting no answer, she made her way to turn around and exit. Before she did so, She looked over her shoulder at the tall White haired figure and asked; "Have you seen Qrow's message?" Her brow was raised as she asked.

Ozpin Tapped his fingers on the top of his Cane lightly, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"I have."

The answer was short and to the point. Once again there was a brief silence in the air. Both professors deep in thought. Glynda nodded in acceptance. "And what are your thoughts regarding his concerns?"

Ozpin hummed softly as he recounted the note Qrow had delivered to him recently. The dusty old crow had been busy, it seems. To have a written note delivered at the last minute painted a clear picture to Ozpin that Qrow was becoming agitated and a little reckless. Qrow should know better then anyone then to send messages such as this instead of meeting in person. Though the Headmaster brushed off any concern he may have felt. Qrow was one of his most trusted agents and a good friend.

He mentally sighed to himself as he let the problem slide and began to ponder his response to his deputy. He continued to drum his fingers softly across the pommel of his cane. The turning and ticking of the massive clockwork cogs above them echoed faintly throughout the office.

"It is far too soon to take any proper action, for now. Evidence and information are scarce at best. While Qrow has been an efficient tracker it appears that there is little we can do on the matter. Though, one thing did catch my attention." Ozpin turned his attention away from the breathtaking view, his chocolate brown eyes meeting piercing green.

"In Qrow's earlier reports it states that this. _..'_ Shadow,' had weaponry that was highly advanced. According to the young Rose one of them was in the shape of a sword, covered in a glowing blue hue. It was said to be so quick and powerful it cut through an elder Deathstalker like butter." Ozpin then reached for the empty cup that was left upon his desk and proceeded to refill it with a fresh batch of hot caffeine. A satisfied grin was shown by the headmaster before he looked over to the other professor and gestured an offer. The blonde deputy waved a hand in polite decline. Ozpin shrugged his shoulders in as he took a light sip from the filed mug.

"The evidence that Qrow has stated matches the description of Miss Rose's tale. While there is only a small amount to support this, I'd say this warrants us to weary. I'm more then convinced that this far-fetched tale has some truth." The headmaster explained. Glynda nodded. Her eyes narrowed as a frown grew on her lips. "Do you want me to contact James? I feel like that he might be able to assist for a situation like this." She suggested.

Ozpin hummed to himself in contemplation while swirling the coffee in his hand while the other gripped the cane. "No. I believe that alerting the General would only make things more difficult for us to understand what exactly is going on. For now, we'll keep tabs on the young Rose."

The Deputy nodded again in agreement. "Understood Headmaster. " She glanced down at the time. "Sir, It's time. The Students have arrived at Beacon."

The old man Readjusted his glasses and drank a mouthful of the brewed goodness. The Headmaster began moving to the elevator with Glynda following close behind in stride. "Then let's welcome them to their new home. I think this year is going to be an experience more bizarre then ever before."

* * *

 _ **Beacon Academy docks...**_

Nerves gave off a tingling sensation in her stomach as a small scythe wielding teenager prepared herself. The air-ship that was transporting her, along with many others had just landed on the massive shuttle docks of this grand academy, one of the most renown academy's for training and molding some of the worlds most seasoned huntsmen.

Beacon.

She had made it. For many years the young Rose had fantasized of becoming a huntress. Like everyone else in her family. Her entire inspiration came from none other than Summer Rose. Her mother. Ruby was far too young to Have many memories of her, unfortunately. Summer Rose had undertaken an extremely dangerous Huntsmen contract far out in Grimm infested territory. She never returned and was presumed dead after search attempts failed due to how dangerous the journey to locate her became. Due to a body never being discovered, Ruby still held the slightest flicker of hope that some way, somehow, her loving mother was out there in the world.

As Ruby grew up over the years, her uncle Qrow had trained her. Her father had offered to do so, but her interest and fascination with big bladed weapons and firearms made her more inclined to receive higher benefits with Qrow. Taiyang had then agreed to train Yang in hand to hand combat orientated styles and gathered the materials for her older sister to construct her weapon.

Speaking of her older sister, Yang had ditched her as soon as the Air-ship touched down to solid ground. Apparently, the blonde brawler believed it was a good idea to mingle in the ground of new faces. Though much to Ruby's hesitation. After the flood of fresh students had swarmed the courtyard she aimlessly wandered into a bit of a bit of a hard place. The situation centered around a particular white-haired, pompous, and privileged girl who seemed to hold a superiority complex.

Ruby was held a victim to the wrath of this girl for walking into her luggage, and accidentally sneezing onto her (poorly sealed) dust viles. Even though she had apologized numerous times, the girl known as Weiss Schnee had continued to harass her until the involvement of a mysterious savoir came to her rescue. Another teen dressed in black and white with lengthy raven hair, and gold like eyes shining even in the daytime. She had boldly criticized the heiress on her family's shady business practices in regards on how they treat their Faunus workers. The young heiress turned her head and scoffed before storming off towards the gates of Beacon. And as soon as she appeared, the mysterious cat-eyed woman vanished before Ruby had a chance to introduce herself, along with thanking her.

The teen sighed dramatically, her social awkward tenancies had made even basic human interaction a challenge. Due to her gaining entry two whole years earlier it isolated her from all of her friends who were still at Signal. Adding to the unnecessary drama she found herself in the red caped girl decided to lay herself onto the floor. Her gaze now facing the open cloudless sky. The sun shining faintly as a light breeze flowed throughout the school grounds.

She had no idea how long she laid in that uncomfortable position before while on the marble like cobblestone, but it was enough time for her mind to drift.

"Well, at least I've made it I suppose." She mumbled. She blinked slowly as she mentally prepared herself to get up and ready.

"Hey, need a hand?" Ruby's eyes shot open to reveal a male teen standing over her. A gentle smile graced his lips. In her field of vision she could make out white armor plates on his shoulders and chest as wavy blonde hair (though a little scraggly) lightly touched his shoulders. Something about this boy called out to her. He seemed so familiar but she couldn't tell why.

Flashbacks to that incident six months ago brought back vivid memories of her first ever close encounter with death's door. How an elder Deathstalker came seconds away from killing the child before an unlikely rescue surfaced at the last minute.

Vague images of glowing blue surrounding a jet black shrouded figure, were the only glimpses Ruby had seen of her savoir. It sent chills down her spine when she came into eye contact with the shadow like being. Haunting glowing eyes of glowing blue had been focused on her sliver. it felt like she was nothing more then prey for an apex predator as it stalked from the shadows. As the memories faded and her consciousness returning back to the present time of reality, The image of the dark being faded and was replaced by the face of the blonde haired boy. Who had a small look of unease and confusion he features.

Realizing that, in her dazed state she must of been lying on the ground for a lengthily amount of time, while the other teen must of been standing there holding his hand out for just as long. Her checks now tinged red in embarrassment, she reached up and grasped her gloved hand and accepted gratefully. As the tall boy pulled her to her feet Ruby dusted herself of and introduced herself.

"Ugh, sorry you had to see that, I'm Ruby by the way!" She reached out and held out her palm, offering a handshake.

The other teen smiled and happily reached his hand out and grasped hers and shook it softly. "Hey, I'm Jaune. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

* * *

 _ **AAAAANNNNDDDDDD THE BALL IS OFFICIALLY ROLLING! Thanks for the long wait guys. I didn't mean to keep you all on stand by for so long but writing is difficult to upload chapters for the site. I hope that this update meets standards. The chapter was originally meant to be longer but any files i've saved kept getting corrupted for some reason. All of that aside, I hope you guys have a great day/night wherever around the world you are! :)**_


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